On January 7, 2020, Sally Hudson (D-Albemarle) introduced HB1112, a bill which would ban all covenants not to compete in employment agreements entered into after July 1, 2020. If passed, HB1112 would have a huge impact on white collar professions such as medicine, sales, government contracting and other occupations where employers tend to make employees execute restrictive covenants. For employees, this would mean additional freedom to change jobs. For employers, HB1112 would make it harder to protect an employers’ legitimate business interests. Employers would have to utilize non-solicitation clauses and existing trade secret laws.
HB1112 is currently assigned to the Committee on Labor and Commerce and only has one patron, Delegate Hudson, so its chances of passing this session do not look promising.
You may follow HB112’s progress here.
