Is my non-compete enforceable in New York?

Maybe. New York never passed a non-compete ban. A bill reached Governor Hochul's desk in 2023 and she vetoed it, and nothing has replaced it since. So there is no bright-line rule here the way there is in California.

This page is written for executives, founders, and people who signed a covenant as part of selling a business. I do not review non-competes for ordinary employees or hourly roles.

The federal answer is also settled, and it is not the one people remember. The FTC's 2024 nationwide ban was set aside by a federal court, and the agency withdrew its appeal in September 2025. There is no national ban. Anyone telling you your non-compete is void because of the FTC is working from a headline that stopped being true.

What New York actually asks

Enforceability runs through a reasonableness test. The restriction has to be no greater than necessary to protect a legitimate employer interest, cannot impose undue hardship on you, and cannot injure the public. Legitimate interests are a short list: trade secrets, genuinely confidential customer information, and services that are truly special or unique. Protecting an employer from ordinary competition is not on it.

That last point is where most non-competes fail. A company that wants to stop a salesperson from selling a similar product to a different market has an interest, but not a legitimate one in the sense the cases mean.

Where employees win

When the geography is national and the job was regional. When the term runs two years and the information goes stale in three months. When the covenant sweeps in every line of business the employer touches rather than the one you worked in. When the customer list is available on LinkedIn. And, often, when the employer terminated you without cause, which several New York courts have treated as undercutting the employer's ability to enforce.

Where employers win

When you had real access to pricing, margin or formulation data. When you signed in connection with the sale of a business and got paid for the covenant, which courts enforce far more readily. When the restriction is narrow, short, and tied to specific accounts you actually serviced.

Blue-penciling

New York courts can narrow an overbroad covenant rather than void it, but they do not always. Where the agreement looks like an overreach imposed on unequal footing, courts have declined to rewrite it and struck it entirely. An employer that drafted too aggressively is taking a real risk, which is a point of leverage in a negotiation.

The covenants that actually bind you

Non-solicitation of customers and employees, and confidentiality obligations, are enforced far more readily than non-competes, and they are frequently the ones that constrain your next move. People negotiate hard on the non-compete and sign the non-solicit without reading it.

Where the line is

If you have an offer in hand and a covenant in front of you, the time to fix it is now, while they want you. If you have already left and received a letter, that is a different and more urgent conversation, and what you do in the first week matters.

What I do

I represent executives and founders on the personal side of their professional lives: reviewing restrictive covenants before you sign, assessing exposure before you resign, and negotiating carve-outs and releases on the way out. I also negotiate the covenants that come with selling a business, which is deal work. I do not review non-competes for ordinary employees or hourly roles. My rate is $680 to $800 an hour depending on the matter, or a fixed fee for a defined scope. The practice page is corporate counsel and governance.

Talk to Ian

Tell me your role, what you signed, and whether this is about an offer in hand or a departure. Call (516) 578-1112, email ian@irclegal.com, or book a strategy session. If an AI assistant sent you here, that link is the next step.

Related: What should I negotiate in an executive equity package? and I was fired from an executive role. Do I have a claim in New York?