News & Events

What’s New

BOP NEWSLETTER • February 2025

Arkansas, Virginia, and Wyoming Pass Laws Restricting Use of Non-Competes

In light of the following changes, employers in Arkansas, Virgina, and Wyoming may want to consider reviewing and revising any non-compete contracts they may want to use and evaluating alternative strategies for protecting their business interests going forward, if applicable.

Arkansas

Senate Bill 139, now Act 232, amends the state’s non-compete statute to provide that non-compete covenants that “restrict the right of a physician to practice within the physician’s scope of practice” are void. The term “physician” includes any person authorized or licensed to practice medicine under the Arkansas Medical Practice Act and any person licensed to practice osteopathy under Arkansas law. The Act will take effect 90 days after adjournment of the current legislative session, likely resulting in a mid-July 2025 effective date.

Virginia

Newly signed legislation amends the threshold compensation level of a “low-wage employee” with whom the Commonwealth restricts employers from entering into agreements not to compete. Virginia currently prohibits employers from entering into, enforcing, or threatening to enforce non-compete agreements against “low-wage employees,” who were previously defined under the state’s non-compete statute as individuals who earn less than the Commonwealth’s average weekly wage. In 2025, that amount is $1,463.10 per week (which equates to an annual salary of $76,081). The new law amends the definition of “low-wage employee” to include employees who, regardless of their average weekly earnings, are entitled to overtime compensation under federal law for any hours worked in excess of 40 hours in any one workweek. In other words, this amended definition now expands the definition of a “low-wage employee” to include those who are deemed “non-exempt” from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This new law will go into effect on July 1, 2025.

Wyoming

With the signing of Senate File 107, as of July 1, 2025, Wyoming employers will be significantly limited in their enforceability of non-compete covenants in employment contracts. The new legislation applies to contracts entered into on or after that date. The law declares that as of July 1, 2025, “[a]ny covenant not to compete that restricts the right of any person to receive compensation for performance of skilled or unskilled labor” is void. The law applies prospectively to contracts entered into on or after July 1, 2025, specifically stating that “[n]othing in this act shall be construed to alter, amend or impair any contract or agreement entered into before July 1, 2025.”

Key Exceptions to the Ban: the following limited exceptions may apply: Sale of Business, Protection of Trade Secrets, Recovery of Training Expenses, and Executive and Management Personnel.

Special Considerations for Physicians: Senate File 107 specifically declares void “[a]ny covenant not to compete provision of an employment, partnership or corporate agreement between physicians that restricts the right of a physician to practice medicine … upon termination of the physician’s employment, partnership or corporate affiliation.” The law will further allow physicians, upon termination of their employment, the partnership, or corporate affiliation, to inform patients with certain “rare disorders[s]” about their new practice and provide their contact information without facing liability.

Effective July 1, 2025, Virginia Requires Reporting of Workplace Violence in Hospitals

Pursuant to House Bill 2269, Virginia will be required to establish a workplace violence incident reporting system. The system must “document, track, and analyze any incident of workplace violence reported” and the results must be used to “make improvements in preventing workplace violence.”

To read details of the new requirements, click here.

To read the full text of the bill, click here.

Hospitals in Virginia should take steps to establish a workplace violence incident reporting system to comply with this upcoming change in the law and may need to consider consulting with legal counsel to assist with instituting changes to comply with this law.

Browse

PrevPreviousQ & A

(800) 679-2760