Washington’s non-compete ban comes with an affirmative duty most employers have not yet put on the calendar. It is not enough to stop enforcing noncompetes—by a fixed date, employers must proactively tell affected workers that their covenants are dead.
The requirement
The enacted law, amending chapter 49.62 RCW, provides that by October 1, 2027, an employer must make reasonable efforts to provide written notice to all current and former employees and independent contractors whose non-competition covenant is still within its effective time period, telling them the covenant is void and unenforceable. This is a one-way obligation running from the employer to the worker—including former workers you may not have contacted in years.
Why this is harder than it sounds
The notice reaches former workers, not just current staff. That means locating people whose noncompetes have not yet expired, using whatever contact information you reasonably have. For a business that has used noncompetes broadly over the past several years, assembling that list is the real work—and it takes lead time.
The cost of getting it wrong
The new law makes it a violation to enforce, threaten to enforce, or even represent that a worker is bound by a non-compete. Against that backdrop, failing to send the required notice—or, worse, continuing to tell people they are still bound—invites claims. A worker aggrieved by a violation can recover the greater of actual damages or a $5,000 statutory penalty, plus attorneys’ fees and costs, and the Attorney General may act as well.
What to do now
- Build the list early: pull every current and former employee and contractor who signed a non-compete that has not yet expired by its own terms.
- Gather last-known contact information for former workers so you can show “reasonable efforts.”
- Prepare a short, plain-English notice stating the covenant is void and unenforceable, and keep records of when and how you sent it.
- Scrub your handbooks, offer templates, and standard agreements so you are not still asserting noncompetes elsewhere.
October 1, 2027 sounds far off, but the population you have to reach—former workers included—is exactly the kind of list that takes months to build. Starting now is the difference between a clean mailing and a scramble.
If you have questions about your notice obligations under the new noncompete law, you can reach us at martinkreshon.com or call (206) 929-0609. You can also find reviews for Martin on Google and Avvo.