Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the District of Columbia’s Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 (D.C. Act 23-563) (the Act) on January 11, 2021. The Act includes one of the most expansive bans on non-compete agreements in the country, but is still not enforceable in the District of Columbia over one year after its passage. The Act was set to become applicable on October 1, 2021, but D.C. Councilmember Elissa Silverman introduced an amendment (Bill 23-256) to address concerns from some members of the D.C. business community, and enforcement was delayed until April 1, 2022. The D.C. Council has now delayed enforcement again. On March 28, 2022, Mayor Bowser signed emergency legislation that pushes back the Act’s applicability date to October 1, 2022. The additional delay will allow the council time to consider and vote on Silverman’s amendment.

Further, the delay in enforcement also gives employers several more months to review their business practices and prepare for compliance with the Act’s mandates, which are discussed below.

Near Total Ban on Non-Compete Employment Agreements

Under the Act, “[n]o employer operating in the District of Columbia may request or require any employee working in the District of Columbia to agree to a non-compete policy or agreement.” Notably, the prohibition only applies to non-competes entered on or after the Act’s applicability date, which has now been delayed until October 1; existing non-competes, and non-competes entered prior to...

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