Noncompete enforceability — Bus. & Prof. Code § 16600

You got a better offer, and then you remembered the noncompete you signed on your first day.

This stops more people than it should. It comes up often enough in California that there is a clear, settled answer for what that clause actually does, not just a vague sense that you are stuck.

Here is the short version. California Business and Professions Code § 16600 voids almost every agreement that restrains someone from working in their profession, trade, or business, including the standard noncompete tucked into an offer letter.

A few narrow exceptions apply to selling a business or dissolving a partnership. Outside of those, California treats an employee noncompete as void from the moment it is signed.

Assembly Bill 1076, effective in 2024, added a requirement: employers had to give current and former employees written notice that any noncompete clause in their agreement is unenforceable.

The mistake many employees make runs the other direction: assuming that if the noncompete does not hold up, nothing else in the agreement does either.

In Edwards v. Arthur Andersen LLP, the California Supreme Court read § 16600 broadly enough to void nonsolicitation-of-customers clauses too, not only clauses labeled a noncompete.

Confidentiality and trade-secret provisions are a genuinely different category. California’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Civil Code § 3426 et seq., protects real trade secrets, and a narrowly written confidentiality clause can still hold up.

But a clause broad enough to block use of general skills and knowledge, rather than genuine trade secrets, can itself be treated as a disguised noncompete and struck down the same way.

The practical question is not whether a clause is labeled noncompete, nonsolicitation, or confidentiality. It is how that specific clause is written and what it actually restrains.

If a nonsolicitation or confidentiality provision, not just a noncompete, is part of what is shaping a decision about your next job, how that specific clause is written is worth reviewing before you turn down an opportunity over it. That is exactly what a no-charge initial consultation is for.

Contact Michael Trust Law, APC for a no-charge initial consultation. The facts determine whether you have a claim — and how much of a conversation that takes.

Disclaimer: This post shares general information based on common patterns I see in California workplaces. It is not legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and outcomes depend on specific facts — no lawyer can guarantee a result. Past results do not guarantee or predict future outcomes. AI may have been used to create this post. All content reviewed by a CA attorney before publication.