A non-compete is enforceable in Illinois only when it clears several hurdles at once: you must earn above the statutory salary floor, you must have received something of real value for signing, your employer must have given you at least 14 days to review it and told you in writing to consult a lawyer, and the restriction itself must be no broader than needed to protect a genuine business interest. Miss any one of these, and the agreement is vulnerable — often fatally so.
Income Thresholds That Void a Non-Compete Outright
The Illinois Freedom to Work Act sets a hard floor. Through the end of 2026, your employer cannot enforce a non-compete against you if you earn $75,000 or less per year. On January 1, 2027, the threshold rises to $80,000, and it will keep climbing by $5,000 every five years after that.1Justia. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 90 – Illinois Freedom to Work Act
Non-solicitation clauses — the ones that stop you from contacting former clients or coworkers — have a lower cutoff. They are unenforceable if you earn $45,000 or less per year, rising to $47,500 on January 1, 2027, with $2,500 bumps every five years.1Justia. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 90 – Illinois Freedom to Work Act
“Earnings” is broader than base salary. The statute counts your total W-2 compensation, which includes bonuses, commissions, tips, and elective deferrals like 401(k) contributions, HSA deductions, and flexible spending account contributions.2Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 90 – Illinois Freedom to Work Act
Workers Who Cannot Be Bound At Any Income Level
Two groups are protected regardless of what they earn.
Construction workers cannot be held to a non-compete or a non-solicitation agreement. The narrow exceptions are employees whose work is primarily management, engineering, architectural design, or sales, and those who hold an ownership stake in the company.3Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 90/10 – Prohibiting Covenants Not to Compete and Covenants Not to Solicit
Licensed mental health professionals are also protected in a specific circumstance: a non-compete cannot be enforced against them if enforcement would make it harder or more expensive for veterans or first responders to access mental health services. First responders here means EMS personnel, firefighters, and law enforcement officers.3Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 90/10 – Prohibiting Covenants Not to Compete and Covenants Not to Solicit
Did You Get Adequate Consideration for Signing
A non-compete is a contract, and you must have received something of value for your promise. What counts depends on the timing.
If you signed while already employed and the only thing you got in return was keeping your job, the agreement holds only if you then worked at least two more years. The rule comes from Fifield v. Premier Dealer Services, Inc. and is now codified in the Freedom to Work Act.1Justia. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 90 – Illinois Freedom to Work Act Leave or get fired before that two-year mark, and the non-compete is likely unenforceable on consideration grounds alone.
The statute recognizes that other things can substitute for that two-year period: a raise, a bonus, stock options, or access to specialized training. For a new hire, the job offer itself can serve as consideration, but if continued employment is the only thing on the table, the two-year clock still runs.
The 14-Day Review Rule
Before you sign, your employer must give you the agreement in writing, allow at least 14 calendar days to review it, and advise you in writing to consult with an attorney.1Justia. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 90 – Illinois Freedom to Work Act You can sign earlier if you want to, but you cannot be pressured into signing on your first day.
Skipping these steps puts the whole agreement at risk. A non-compete presented on a take-it-now basis, with no attorney-consultation advisory in writing, is vulnerable to being thrown out no matter how reasonable its other terms are.
Does the Restriction Protect a Real Business Interest
Even when you earn above the threshold and everything procedural was done right, your employer still has to prove the non-compete protects a legitimate business interest. Under Reliable Fire Equipment Co. v. Arredondo, courts apply a totality-of-the-circumstances analysis rather than a checklist. The main things they weigh are whether you had access to genuinely confidential information and whether you developed near-permanent relationships with customers.
Confidential information means something more specific than general industry knowledge. Trade secrets, proprietary pricing models, detailed customer data, or strategic plans can qualify. Information that anyone in your field could pick up will not.
Near-permanent customer relationships exist when clients came to identify you personally as the person they do business with. A long-tenured salesperson who was a client’s sole contact is the clearest example. A back-office role with no client contact almost never qualifies.
Is the Scope Reasonable
A non-compete that protects a real interest can still fail if it reaches too far. Courts look at three things together: how large the geographic area is, how long the restriction lasts, and what activities it prohibits. Your employer carries the burden of proving each piece is no broader than necessary.
Geography should track where the company actually does business. A statewide ban for a firm operating only in the Chicago metro area is hard to defend. On duration, Illinois courts treat anything over two years with heavy skepticism and have said in practice that restrictions longer than one year are rarely necessary. The activity restriction should stop you from doing similar work for a direct competitor, not lock you out of your entire field.
If You Were Laid Off During COVID or Similar Circumstances
The Freedom to Work Act includes a specific protection for workers terminated or furloughed because of the COVID-19 pandemic or similar circumstances. In that situation, your former employer cannot enforce a non-compete unless it continues paying your base salary for the entire restricted period, minus whatever you earn from new work.2Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 90 – Illinois Freedom to Work Act Enforcement without that pay is void.
Garden Leave Is a Separate Thing
If your agreement requires you to give advance notice before leaving and keeps you on the payroll during that notice period, that is a garden leave clause, not a non-compete. The Freedom to Work Act specifically carves garden leave out of the definition of a non-compete because you remain employed and paid during the restricted period.1Justia. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 90 – Illinois Freedom to Work Act The exemption only applies while the paychecks continue. Once the pay stops and the restriction continues, the standard non-compete rules apply.
What Happens If Your Employer Sues
When an employer wants to enforce a non-compete, it typically asks a court for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to keep you out of the new job while the case proceeds. To get that order, the employer must show a protectable right, irreparable harm without an injunction, that money damages would not be an adequate remedy, and a likelihood of winning on the merits.
Many enforcement attempts fail here. An employer that cannot point to concrete harm from your new position, or that drafted terms so broad they will not survive a reasonableness challenge, struggles to meet that bar.
Voiding vs. Rewriting the Agreement
If a court finds the non-compete unenforceable, it can either void the agreement entirely or reform it — sometimes called blue-penciling. Under Section 35 of the Freedom to Work Act, a judge can shrink a five-year restriction to one year, narrow a nationwide ban to a single metro area, or otherwise trim overbroad terms. The court looks at whether the original restrictions reflected a good-faith effort to protect a real interest, how much rewriting would be needed, and whether the agreement itself authorized modification.1Justia. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 90 – Illinois Freedom to Work Act Courts are not required to save a poorly drafted agreement. If the restrictions look more like an intimidation tool than a genuine protection, a judge can void the thing outright.
Fee Shifting in Your Favor
If your employer sues to enforce a non-compete and you win, the Freedom to Work Act entitles you to recover your costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.2Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 90 – Illinois Freedom to Work Act That provision changes the math for employers thinking about filing an aggressive suit on a shaky agreement.
The Federal FTC Ban Is Not in Effect
The Federal Trade Commission finalized a rule in May 2024 that would have banned nearly all non-competes nationwide. A federal court blocked it in August 2024 before it took effect, and the FTC moved to dismiss its own appeal in September 2025.4Federal Trade Commission. Noncompete Rule As of 2026, the federal rule is not enforceable. Illinois state law is what governs whether your non-compete holds.