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Can home care agencies use non-compete agreements?
Non-compete rules are set by state law, and several states ban them for hourly or lower-wage workers. Pick a state for the status, the threshold and the statute.
Last reviewed October 17, 2026
There is no federal non-compete ban. The FTC's 2024 Non-Compete Clause Rule was set aside nationwide in Ryan LLC v. FTC (N.D. Tex., August 2024) and never took effect. On 2025-09-05 the FTC voted 3-1 to dismiss its appeals (5th and 11th Circuits) and accede to the vacatur, and on 2026-02-12 it published a Federal Register notice removing the rule from its regulations to conform to the court decisions. The FTC now challenges specific non-competes and no-hire agreements case by case under Section 5 of the FTC Act: it issued a request for information (2025-09-04), sent warning letters to large healthcare employers and staffing firms about non-competes for roles such as nurses (2025-09-10), and entered consent orders against Gateway Services (non-competes, final 2025-11-25), Adamas Amenity Services (no-hire agreements in customer contracts, final 2026-02-12) and Rollins (non-competes, final 2026-06-22). The Adamas order is relevant to home care agencies because it targeted contract clauses penalizing customers for hiring the company's workers. At the NLRB, Acting General Counsel William Cowen rescinded the non-compete memos GC 23-08 and GC 25-01 on 2025-02-14 (GC 25-05), so the NLRB General Counsel no longer takes the position that most non-competes violate the NLRA.
| State | Status | Wage threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Restricted | — |
| Alaska | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Arizona | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Arkansas | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| California | Banned | — |
| Colorado | Banned below wage threshold | Non-competes are void unless the worker is highly compensated: $130,014 in annualized cash compensation for 2026, both when signed and when enforced. Customer non-solicitation covenants require at least 60% of that amount ($78,008.40 in 2026). |
| Connecticut | Banned | — |
| Delaware | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| District of Columbia | Banned below wage threshold | Non-competes are banned for employees earning less than $162,164 in 2026 ($270,274 for medical specialists). The figures are adjusted each January 1 for inflation. |
| Florida | Generally enforceable if reasonable | No floor bars non-competes. The 2025 CHOICE Act adds stronger enforcement, with terms up to 4 years, only for covered employees earning more than twice the annual mean wage of the relevant Florida county; health care practitioners are excluded from that Act. |
| Georgia | Restricted | — |
| Hawaii | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Idaho | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Illinois | Banned below wage threshold | Non-competes are void unless the employee's actual or expected annualized earnings exceed $75,000 (rising to $80,000 on 2027-01-01). Customer and employee non-solicitation covenants are void unless earnings exceed $45,000 (rising to $47,500 on 2027-01-01). |
| Indiana | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Iowa | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Kansas | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Kentucky | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Louisiana | Restricted | — |
| Maine | Banned below wage threshold | Employers may not require or permit a non-compete with an employee earning wages at or below 400% of the federal poverty level. Using the 2026 HHS poverty guideline of $15,960 for one person, that is $63,840 a year. |
| Maryland | Banned below wage threshold | Non-compete and conflict-of-interest provisions are void for employees earning 150% of the state minimum wage or less. With the state rate at $15.00 an hour in 2026, that is $22.50 an hour (roughly $46,800 a year at full time). |
| Massachusetts | Banned below wage threshold | Not a dollar figure: non-competes cannot be enforced against employees classified as non-exempt under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which includes hourly caregivers paid overtime. |
| Michigan | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Minnesota | Banned | — |
| Mississippi | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Missouri | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Montana | Restricted | — |
| Nebraska | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Nevada | Banned below wage threshold | Not a dollar figure: a non-compete may not apply to an employee paid solely on an hourly wage basis, not counting tips or gratuities. |
| New Hampshire | Banned below wage threshold | Non-competes are void for employees earning an hourly rate at or below 200% of the federal minimum wage, which is $14.50 an hour while the federal minimum is $7.25. |
| New Jersey | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| New Mexico | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| New York | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| North Carolina | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| North Dakota | Banned | — |
| Ohio | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Oklahoma | Banned | — |
| Oregon | Banned below wage threshold | A non-compete is void unless the employee's annual gross salary and commissions at termination exceed $119,541 (2026 BOLI figure), and the employee is a salaried executive, administrative or professional employee under ORS 653.020(3). Hourly caregivers cannot meet these conditions, unless the employer instead agrees in writing to pay at least 50% of salary (or of the base threshold) during the restricted period. |
| Pennsylvania | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Rhode Island | Banned below wage threshold | Non-competes cannot be enforced against FLSA non-exempt employees or low-wage employees, defined as earning no more than 250% of the federal poverty level for an individual in the first 40 hours of work each week. Using the 2026 HHS guideline of $15,960, that is $39,900 a year. |
| South Carolina | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| South Dakota | Restricted | — |
| Tennessee | Banned below wage threshold | For agreements entered into, renewed or amended on or after 2026-07-01, employers may not require, request or enforce a non-compete with an employee whose annualized compensation is less than $70,000. For hourly employees, annualized compensation is the hourly rate times 40 times 52 (about $33.65 an hour). |
| Texas | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Utah | Restricted | — |
| Vermont | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Virginia | Banned below wage threshold | Non-competes are banned for low-wage employees: anyone entitled to overtime under the FLSA, regardless of pay, and anyone whose average weekly earnings are below the state average weekly wage. That figure is $1,507.01 a week (about $78,365 a year) from 2026-07-01. |
| Washington | Banned below wage threshold | Non-competes are void unless the employee's annualized W-2 earnings exceed $126,858.83 (2026 figure set by L&I; $317,147.09 for independent contractors). A full ban on all non-competes takes effect June 30, 2027. |
| West Virginia | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Wisconsin | Generally enforceable if reasonable | — |
| Wyoming | Banned | — |
How Caregiver Scheduling handles this
Retention beats restriction: Caregiver Scheduling keeps each caregiver's day in one area, matches caregivers to clients, and gets pay right from verified check-ins. See route optimization.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
No. The FTC issued a rule in 2024, but a federal court set it aside before it took effect, so state law decides whether a non-compete is enforceable.
Yes. Many states that limit non-competes still allow narrower agreements not to solicit the employer’s clients, but some limit those too. Check the state page.
Many states ban or limit them for hourly workers, and they rarely fix turnover. Have a local employment lawyer review any restrictive agreement before you use it.
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