Nothing on this page is advice about your job, and no article can be. If you want your own facts looked at, a Minnesota employment attorney can do that — and several of the deadlines described on this site are short enough that waiting is itself a decision.
Also called: noncompete; non-compete; noncompete agreement; restrictive covenant.
“Covenant not to compete” means an agreement between an employee and employer that restricts the employee, after termination of the employment, from performing:
(1) work for another employer for a specified period of time;
(2) work in a specified geographical area; or
(3) work for another employer in a capacity that is similar to the employee’s work for the employer that is party to the agreement.
Minn. Stat. § 181.988, subd. 1(a). This definition is the gate for subdivision 2, which makes any covenant not to compete “void and unenforceable” outside the sale-of-a-business and dissolution exceptions in subdivision 2(b). Subdivision 1(a) then excludes three things by name: a nondisclosure agreement, an agreement designed to protect trade secrets or confidential information, and a nonsolicitation agreement. A document titled “Non-Compete” is not a covenant not to compete unless what it restricts is work. The section took effect July 1, 2023, “and applies to contracts and agreements entered into on or after that date.” Laws 2023, ch. 53, art. 6, § 1.
Where this comes up
- If you signed a Minnesota noncompete on or after July 1, 2023, it is void — and that does not touch your NDA
- Minnesota's noncompete ban did not touch your NDA or your nonsolicit — and no Minnesota employment or civil-rights statute voids a settlement NDA about harassment
- The Exit Meeting: Every Document Handed Across the Table Runs on Its Own Statute and Its Own Clock
Sources checked September 8, 2026. Citations independently verified against the primary source September 8, 2026.