Allowed if reasonable

Non-compete law in North Carolina

North Carolina has no statute that regulates employee noncompetes. The only statute found is G.S. 75-4: an agreement limiting a person's right to do business in North Carolina is unenforceable unless it is in writing and signed by the person who agrees not to compete. Whether a covenant is otherwise enforceable is left to case law (reasonableness); pending 2025-26 bills to ban or limit noncompetes (H 269, H 973, S 978) had not been enacted in the snapshots read.

Last verified · confidence medium. Clauseworthy is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.

Employee non-competes
Not banned; conditions apply
Pay floor
None in the statute
Duration
No statutory cap; none stated in Chapter 75.
Consideration
Statute requires only that the agreement be in writing and signed by the party who agrees not to compete (G.S. 75-4). Consideration and reasonableness are case-law questions not verified from an official court source.

Exceptions and special rules

  • Chapter 75 contains no express sale-of-business, employee or professional carve-outs; G.S. 75-4 itself 'does not legalize' any agreement made illegal by another section of Chapter 75 (G.S. 75-4 proviso). G.S. 75-1 declares contracts in restraint of trade illegal, and G.S. 75-2 brings in common-law restraint-of-trade principles.

Non-solicitation clauses

Chapter 75 does not mention employee or customer non-solicitation covenants; treatment is case law (not cited).

Contracts naming another state's law

None found in Chapter 75.

Remedies

No remedy specific to noncompetes in G.S. 75-4. Chapter 75 provides general Attorney General and private-action remedies for restraints of trade (for example treble damages, G.S. 75-16); their application to employee covenants was not verified.

Which agreements it covers

G.S. 75-4 applies to contracts 'hereafter made' (1913 c. 41, s. 4); no signing-date cutoff beyond that.

Recent changes

  • 2026-06-16. S 978 'Healthcare Competition Reforms' (Part I: Preserving Competition in Healthcare Act): bill text read, but the noncompete-for-clinicians provisions and the 2026-06-16 re-referral to Senate Appropriations/Base Budget come from a secondary tracker; the official lookup page is blocked. Not enacted as far as found. Source
  • 2025-07-01. H 67 (2025) was enacted as S.L. 2025-37 (signed 2025-07-01), a health care workforce bill. A secondary tracker (EIG) lists H 67 as a ban on noncompetes for hospital-employed health professionals, but the ratified session law contains no noncompete, covenant or restrictive-covenant provision (word search of the 48-page session law). No change to North Carolina noncompete law. Source
  • 2025-04-14. H 973: last action referred to House Rules on 2025-04-14 (2026-04-18 snapshot); only the lookup page was read (not bill text), so its content comes from secondaries and is not stated here. Not enacted. Source
  • 2025-03-05. H 269 'Workforce Freedom and Protection Act' (filed 2025-03-03): would prohibit noncompetes for employees paid under $75,000 a year, effective 2025-07-01 as filed. Last action in the 2026-05-08 snapshot: referred to Commerce and Economic Development, then Judiciary 2, then Rules on 2025-03-05. Not enacted. Source

Primary sources

Checker

What the statute says for these facts

Four facts. The answer leads with what the statute does at that pay, then names any change already enacted, then quotes the details with their citations.

The person who would sign

Several statutes treat contractors differently.

Other states on file