Effective July 1, 2025, Wyoming will restrict the enforceability of non-compete agreements. In enacting Senate Bill 107, Wyoming joins a growing list of states that have significantly restricted, or completely banned, non-compete agreements.
Specifically, the law provides 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. However, the law will not apply retroactively, and it contains several exceptions, including the following:
- Sale of Business: Any covenant not to compete contained in a contract for the purchase and sale of a business or the assets of a business.
- Protection of Trade Secrets: Any covenant not to compete to the extent the covenant provides for the protection of trade secrets as defined by Wyoming Statute §6‑3‑501(a)(xi). The statute defines “trade secret” as “the whole or a portion or phase of a formula, pattern, device, combination of devices or compilation of information which is for use, or is used in the operation of a business and which provides the business an advantage or an opportunity to obtain an advantage over those who do not know or use it.”
- Recovery of Training Expenses: Any contractual provision providing for the recovery of all or a portion of the expense of relocating, educating, and training an employee as follows: (i) recovery of not more than 100% of the expense for an employee who has served an employer for a period of less than two years; (ii) recovery of not more than 66% of the expense for an employee who has served an employer for more than two, but less than three years; and (iii) recovery of not more than 33% of the expense for an employee who has served an employer for more than three, but less than four years.
- Executive and Management Personnel: Any covenant not to compete with executive and management personnel and officers and employees who constitute professional staff to executive and management personnel. The law does not define who is deemed “executive” or “managerial.”
Additionally, the Wyoming law contains specific provisions pertaining to non-compete covenants with physicians. Any covenant not to compete provision in an employment, partnership or corporate agreement with physicians that restricts the right of a physician to practice medicine, as defined by Wyoming law, upon termination of the physician’s employment, partnership or corporate affiliation is void. Further, a physician may disclose their continuing practice of medicine and new professional contact information to any patient with a rare disorder (as defined by the National Organization for Rare Disorders), or to certain successor organizations.
To ensure compliance with Wyoming’s new law come July 1, 2025, Wyoming employers should carefully revise their employment agreements and consider alternative means for protecting their business interests moving forward, such as robust confidentiality and non-disclosure clauses and non-solicitation covenants, unless one of the exceptions set forth above applies.