Skip to content
Oakclause

Non-Compete Laws in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania courts enforce employee non-competes that are reasonably necessary to protect the employer and reasonably limited in time and area; for physicians and certain other health care practitioners, covenants made after January 1, 2025 are void unless they last one year or less and the practitioner was not dismissed.

Last checked . General information, not legal advice.

Pennsylvania at a glance

Status
Enforceable if reasonable; health care limits
Covers medical and osteopathic doctors, certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified registered nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
Enforceable against employees
Yes, if reasonable

Sources

Last checked

The rules in Pennsylvania

Are employee non-compete agreements banned, restricted or enforceable in Pennsylvania?

Status in Pennsylvania: Enforceable if reasonable; health care limits. Covers medical and osteopathic doctors, certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified registered nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Can an employer enforce a non-compete against an employee in Pennsylvania?

Yes, if reasonable. Enforceable against employees in Pennsylvania: yes, if reasonable.

Where do the Pennsylvania non-compete laws come from?

The rules above come from Hess v. Gebhard & Co., 808 A.2d 912 (Pa. 2002) and Act of July 17, 2024, No. 74 (Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act). Each source is linked on this page. We last checked them in October 2026.

Good to know

The Fair Contracting for Health Care Practitioners Act (Act 74 of 2024) took effect January 1, 2025.

What this means in practice

Read the restriction closely before signing. Note how long it lasts, the area it covers, which activities it bars and which state's law the contract says applies. A choice-of-law clause does not always control, because some states refuse to apply another state's law to their own residents or workers.

Salary thresholds are often adjusted every year for inflation. If a state uses a threshold, check the figure for the year the agreement was signed or is being enforced, and how the statute defines earnings.

A non-compete is different from a non-solicitation or confidentiality agreement. Many states that limit non-competes still allow narrower clauses that protect trade secrets or customer lists. An employment lawyer can explain how the rules apply to a specific agreement.

General information, not legal advice. Laws change, and cities can add their own rules, so check the current statute before you rely on it.