Statutory ban
California is an absolute-ban state: post-employment non-competes are void by statute for most workers — regardless of salary, industry, or how "reasonable" the clause looks. The narrow exceptions are typically sale-of-business and partnership-dissolution covenants.
Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 16600, 16600.1, 16600.5
Primary verifiedhttps://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC§ionNum=16600.
Rejected federal 'narrow restraint' exception; §16600 must be read broadly to void any restraint of any kind.
Red-pencil statutory void. Courts treat over-broad non-competes as void in their entirety — no judicial reformation is permitted.
§ 16600.5(a) makes any contract void under this chapter unenforceable regardless of where or when it was signed. AB-1076 + SB-699 (2024) codified extraterritorial reach.
Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 16600.5
2024 — AB-1076 (Stats. 2023, Ch. 828) + SB-699 (Stats. 2023, Ch. 157)
Codified Edwards broad construction; added extraterritorial reach (void regardless of forum/choice-of-law); created private right of action with attorney's fees.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1076The FTC's 2024 federal non-compete ban was vacated nationwide in Ryan v. FTC and removed from the Code of Federal Regulations in February 2026. There is no federal ban in force — so California's state law controls. Read the federal status.
Your salary, industry, duration, and where you signed all move the verdict. Apply the actual decision tree — nothing leaves your browser.
Run the decoder