CHOICE Act marks unprecedented shift in future of noncompetes in Florida

On April 24, the Florida Legislature passed House Bill 1219, marking a new, even more employer-centric era for noncompete agreements and other restrictive covenants in the Sunshine State. The bill, titled “Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act,” expands and builds on Florida’s current noncompete statute, adding two new provisions that broaden employers’ abilities to enforce noncompete agreements in employment contracts: covered garden leave agreements and covered noncompete agreements.

Covered garden leave agreements

The Act’s covered garden leave provision allows employers to keep employees on the payroll during the “notice period,” i.e., the period after employees give notice that they intend to end the employment relationship but before the set date of termination. Although employers have an obligation to continue to pay employees during the “garden period,” they aren’t required to provide any discretionary incentive compensation.

In addition, an employer can restrict employees on garden leave from performing any work for both the employer enforcing the agreement and additional employers, regardless of the nature of the work.