Threshold regime

Non-compete enforceability in Colorado

Void unless employee is highly compensated AND covenant protects trade secrets. 14-day notice + separate signed acknowledgment required.

What this means for you

Colorado is a threshold state: a non-compete is void below a statutory income floor and only potentially enforceable above it — and even above the floor it must still be reasonable in time, geography, and scope.

Primary statute

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-2-113 (HB 22-1317)

Primary verified

https://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-8-labor-and-industry/co-rev-st-sect-8-2-113/

Effective: 2022-08-10
Last amended: 2024-08-07
Research verified: 2026-05-08

Doctrine

Blue-pencil discretionary. Courts may strike specific over-broad terms but the practice varies — over-broad covenants drafted in bad faith are often refused enforcement entirely.

Salary / wage threshold

$101,250

2022 value

Highly-compensated threshold $101,250 in 2022; non-solicit threshold $74,250 (60% HCE). Indexed annually by CDLE — 2026 indexed value not verified, flag as ESTIMATE.

Industry-specific rules

healthcare
Healthcare-provider patient-notification rights and limits on enforceability — verify per-role under the 2024 amendment.
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-2-113.3 (HB 24-1324)Secondary

Garden leave / consideration

No garden-leave-pay requirement. 14-day notice + separate signed acknowledgment + covenant must be limited to trade-secret protection.

Gotchas

Notice requirement is two-tiered: 14 days BEFORE start of employment, and again at signing if executed mid-employment.
Customer-non-solicit threshold is 60% of HCE — lower bar than the HCE threshold itself.
Annually indexed — confirm current-year value against CDLE before relying on dollar amounts.

Federal context

The 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 Colorado's state law controls. Read the federal status.

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