An Idaho Non-Compete Agreement is a legal document allowing employers to restrict employees to protect the business’s sensitive information, confidential data, customer lists, etc, in Idaho. Non-competes are often temporary documents that limit where an employee can work during or after employment.
Idaho allows non-compete agreements governed by a chapter of the Idaho code called “Agreements and Covenants Protecting Legitimate Business Interests (ACPLBI). Idaho generally allows a wide range of other non-compete agreements, but there are some rules and limitations. Below is a guide to what is and is not enforceable in Idaho.
Reasonable Uses and Objections
- Enforceable when terminated without cause? – Yes.
- Employee non-solicitation agreement permitted? – Yes.
- Customer non-solicitation agreements permitted? – Yes.
- Does continuing employment equal sufficient consideration? – Yes.
Legally Enforceable in Idaho?
Non-compete agreements in Idaho are legally enforceable, but there are limits on what can be enforced. In most cases, non-competitors are only allowed for “key” employees, defined in § 44-2701 as employees in the company’s top 5% income.
What’s Protected?
The following items can be protected with a non-compete agreement in Idaho:
- Trade secrets
- Technologies
- Intellectual property
- Business plans
- Business processes and methods of operations
- Goodwill
- Customers
- Customer lists
- Customer contacts and referral sources
- Vendors and vendor contacts
- Financial and marketing information
- Potentially others
Reasonable Use and Exceptions
Idaho has several defined reasonable uses and exceptions for non-compete agreements in the state as per § 44-2704.
The reasonable uses include:
- Applicable to “key employee”.
- Reasonable as to duration, geographical area, type of employment, or line of business, and does not impose a more remarkable restraint than is reasonably necessary to protect the employer’s legitimate business interests.
- Reasonable as to covenantor, covenantee, and public
- Rebuttable presumptions of reasonableness: 18 months; geographic area restricted to areas employee provided services or had significant presence or influence; limited to line of business in which employee worked.
- The presumption that an employee is a “key employee” is in the highest-paid 5% of employees in the company.
Exceptions to non-compete agreements in Idaho include:
- Non-key employees
Time Limitations
The state law defines the duration of employment past 18 months post-employment as the presumptively reasonable duration for a non-compete. There have not been many challenges to this duration, but it’s logical to assume that contracts longer than 18 months post-employment may not be enforceable.
Geographic Limitations
Idaho code limits the geographic scope to only areas where employees provided services or had significant presence or influence. It’s possible that there could be disagreement about what that area may be. However, limiting the agreement’s geographic scope as narrowly as possible is advisable to ensure the contract is enforceable.
Sample
Below, you can download an Idaho Non-Compete Agreement template in PDF and Word format:
