The Florida Legislature declined to pass two laws banning noncompetes for physicians and doctors of osteopathic medicine, law firm McDermott Will & Emery said in a March 12 blog post.
The first bill, which would prohibit enforcement of restrictive covenants without exception, remained under consideration in a subcommittee.
The second bill would have banned restrictive covenants against physicians except for those relating to research, for those earning more than $250,000 a year or for those who sell all or part of their medical business. The Senate Rules Committee failed to advance the bill.
Current Florida law allows physician noncompetes unless they restrict a particular specialty in a county where all the physicians in that specialty are employed by a single entity. Additionally, the clauses are permitted if they are justified by a legitimate interest and reasonable in time, area and line of business.