Employment Agreements

Committee sponsorship changed from only Commerce and Tourism to include both Judiciary and Commerce and Tourism committees.

Added a new requirement for courts to make presumptions of fact regarding whether an employee has access to confidential information or customer relationships.

Added explicit amendments to multiple existing antitrust statute sections (542.15 through 542.36) to conform provisions to changes made by the act.

Changed the short title from 'The Florida Trade Secret Protection Act' to 'The Florida Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act'.

New definitions were added for covered employees (earning more than twice the state mean wage or having access to confidential information), covered employers, and specific agreement types including garden leave and noncompete agreements.

New notice requirements were established requiring 7 days' advance notice for both prospective and current employees before they sign garden leave or noncompete agreements, with an option to waive this with 30 days' notice.

New court enforcement mechanisms were created requiring preliminary injunctions for breaches, with specific standards for modifying or dissolving those injunctions based on clear and convincing evidence.

An effective date of July 1, 2025 was added to establish when these new provisions become legally operative.

Applicability criteria were added to determine which agreements fall under the new protections based on employee work location and employer connections to Florida.