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Since the beginning of 2025, different branches of New York's legislature, at both the State and City levels, have proposed 3 new bills aimed at eliminating, or at least curtailing, noncompetes. Here's a sampling of the relevant language and highlights from some of these new bills:
The New Bills
- Bill #1 - this bill, which comes from New York State's Senate on February 10, provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
2. No employer or its agent, or the officer or agent of any corporation, partnership, limited liability company, not-for-profit corporation or association or other entity, shall seek, require, demand or accept a non-compete agreement from any covered individual or health related professional. Any non-compete agreement sought, required, demanded or accepted after the effective date of this section shall be null, void, and unenforceable.
3. (a) A covered individual, may bring a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against any employer or persons alleged to have violated this section. A covered individual shall bring such action within two years of the later of: (i) when the prohibited non-compete agreement was signed; (ii) when the covered individual learns of the prohibited non-compete agreement; (iii) when the employment or contractual relationship is terminated; or (iv) when the employer takes any step to enforce the non-compete agreement. The court shall have jurisdiction to void any such non-compete agreement and to order all appropriate relief, including enjoining the conduct of any person or employer; ordering payment of liquidated damages; and awarding lost compensation, compensatory damages, reasonable attorneys' fees and costs to the covered individual or health related professional.
(b) For the purposes of this subdivision, liquidated damages shall be calculated as an amount not more than ten thousand dollars per covered individual or health related professional. The court shall award liquidated damages to every covered individual affected under this section, in addition to any other remedies permitted by this section.
Importantly, the non-covered individuals that are exempted from this ban are defined as those who are "highly compensated individuals" that are earning more than $500,000 per year.
Bill #2 - proposed by the New York State General Assembly under the ambit of anti-trust law aimed at curtailing abuse secondary to monopoly power, proposes to empower the NY Attorney General to bring actions against those who use their monopoly power to, among other things, impose "Any restraint on a person's ability to engage in a profession, trade, or business of any kind, including any restraint on a person's ability to employ another person."
Bill #3 - Although the title for this bill, "New York State Mobility and Opportunity for Vulnerable Employees Act," is somewhat ambiguous, the goal of the bill is clarified in its Preamble:
"[T]o amend the labor law, in relation to prohibiting employers from requiring low-wage employees to enter into covenants not to compete and requiring employers to notify potential employees of any requirement to enter into a covenant not to compete."
Some of the highlights of this bill include the Labor Commissioner's right to impose civil fines of up to $5,000 per violation.
Some Observations
Initially, it would be almost impossible not to notice the strong political lines that are at play here: every single one of these bills was introduced and pushed by Democratic legislators; there isn't a single Republican that I was able to find anywhere in these bills, and it would certainly not surprise anyone if these were introduced as a partial response to the Democrats' loss in the General Election, with the anticipation that the FTC's proposed broad ban on noncompetes is now likely dead.
Second, in terms of their chances for success, it's obviously too early to tell, and at the State level, the primary question will be whether these bills have done enough to address the concerns that Governor Hochul had with prior iterations of these bills that she vetoed.
