Are Non-Competes Enforceable in Wyoming? Your Rights Explained

In Wyoming, most non-competes signed on or after July 1, 2025 are void. A statute passed that year, W.S. 1-23-108, says that "[a]ny covenant not to compete that restricts the right of any person to receive compensation for performance of skilled or unskilled labor shall be void." There are only four exceptions. This replaced the old rule, under which any non-compete could be enforced if a judge found it "reasonable." If you signed before July 1, 2025, the statute does not touch your contract and that older reasonableness test still governs, so the date on your agreement is the first thing to check.

The Statutory Ban: Contracts Signed On or After July 1, 2025

The Wyoming Legislature enacted Senate File 107 (2025 Enrolled Act No. 87), creating W.S. 1-23-108. The default is now that a non-compete restricting your right to earn compensation for skilled or unskilled labor is void — not "unenforceable if unreasonable," but void. The employer does not get a reasonableness hearing unless the covenant fits one of these four statutory carve-outs:

• Sale of a business. A non-compete contained in a contract for the purchase and sale of a business or its assets.
• Trade secrets. A covenant to the extent it provides for the protection of trade secrets as defined by W.S. 6-3-501(a)(xi).
• Recovering relocation, education, and training costs. Allowed, but capped by how long you stayed (see below).
• Executive and management personnel, plus officers and employees who are professional staff to executive and management personnel.

Read that last exception carefully, because it is the one employers reach for. If you are not an executive, a manager, or professional staff to one, a garden-variety non-compete in a new employment contract is void under subsection (a) — regardless of how short, narrow, or "reasonable" it looks.

Training-Cost Repayment Has a Hard Cap

An employer may still contract to recover what it spent relocating, educating, and training you, but W.S. 1-23-108(a)(iii) fixes the maximum on a sliding scale tied to your length of service:

• Under 2 years of service: up to 100% of the expense.
• 2 to under 3 years: up to 66%.
• 3 to under 4 years: up to 33%.

The statute lists no tier beyond four years. If you are handed a training-repayment demand, check it against these caps before you pay.

Physicians: Void Outright, Plus a Right to Tell Certain Patients

W.S. 1-23-108(b) is categorical. A non-compete provision in an employment, partnership, or corporate agreement between physicians that restricts a physician's right to practice medicine (as defined in W.S. 33-26-102(a)(xi)) after the affiliation ends is void. This is not a public-interest balancing test a doctor has to win in court; the provision simply has no force. The statute adds that "all other provisions of the agreement enforceable at law shall remain enforceable," so the rest of the contract survives.

Subsection (c) grants an affirmative right on top of that. On termination, a departing physician may tell any patient with a rare disorder (as defined in accordance with the national organization for rare disorders) whom the physician was treating or consulting before the split that they are continuing to practice, and may give new professional contact information. Neither the physician nor the new employer can be held liable to the old practice for damages from that disclosure or from continuing to treat the patient.

Agreements Signed Before July 1, 2025: The Old Common-Law Test

The 2025 act applies only to contracts entered into on and after July 1, 2025, and expressly does not "alter, amend or impair" any agreement made before that date. For those older contracts, Wyoming common law still controls. Under Hopper v. All Pet Animal Clinic, a restraint is enforceable only if it is (1) in writing; (2) part of a contract of employment; (3) based on reasonable consideration; (4) reasonable in durational and geographical limitations; and (5) not against public policy.

There is no fixed statutory number of months or miles for these older agreements — courts judge them case by case. A short restriction tied to the area where the employer actually does business and to the role you actually held is more likely to be upheld than a multi-year, statewide, or industry-wide ban with no connection to the employer's real market.

No Blue-Penciling: Hassler (2022)

For decades a Wyoming judge could "blue-pencil" an overbroad non-compete — trim a five-year ban to one year, then enforce the trimmed version. In Hassler v. Circle C Resources, 2022 WY 28, 505 P.3d 169 (Wyo. 2022), the Wyoming Supreme Court overruled that rule. As the Legislative Service Office's official summary to the Joint Judiciary Committee put it, the Court "overruled the Hopper case's adoption of the blue-pencil rule, and found that the terms of the noncompete agreement were unreasonable on their face and thus void in violation of public policy." So if a pre-2025 non-compete is overbroad as written, the covenant fails entirely; a judge will not rescue it by rewriting it.

What Does Not Disappear

A void non-compete does not wipe out your whole contract. Only the offending covenant falls — the statute makes this explicit for physicians ("all other provisions of the agreement enforceable at law shall remain enforceable"), and the trade-secret carve-out in W.S. 1-23-108(a)(ii) shows the Legislature meant to preserve confidentiality protections. Assume the following still bind you:

• Confidentiality and NDA clauses.
• Trade-secret obligations. Misusing trade secrets is separately actionable whether or not a non-compete is valid.
• Fee-shifting, non-solicitation, and other provisions that are enforceable on their own terms.

Walking out with client lists or confidential files is a mistake even if your non-compete is void.

Low-Wage Workers

Wyoming never enacted a wage-threshold statute of the Colorado or Illinois type, which void non-competes below a set salary. It did something broader: it voided non-competes for essentially all wage earners, and left the exception for executives and managers. So for a contract signed on or after July 1, 2025, a lower-paid worker does not have to win a case-by-case hardship argument — the covenant is void by statute. It is the executive who is left arguing reasonableness.

The Federal Picture

There is no nationwide federal ban on non-competes. The Federal Trade Commission issued a rule in 2024 that would have prohibited most of them, but a federal court set that rule aside before it took effect, so it is not in force. Your protection in Wyoming comes from W.S. 1-23-108, not from federal law.

For the wage-and-hour problems that often ride along with contract disputes, the federal baseline applies: the Fair Labor Standards Act sets a federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and requires overtime at one and a half times the regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek. Wyoming's own minimum-wage statute, W.S. 27-4-202(a), still lists $5.15 per hour, but the higher of the state or federal rate controls, so most covered Wyoming workers are entitled to at least $7.25.

What to Do If You Are Asked to Sign or Threatened

Before you sign:

• Check the date and your job title. A contract dated on or after July 1, 2025 is governed by the statutory ban, and whether you are "executive or management personnel" may decide the whole question.
• Read the exact terms. Note the duration, geography, restricted activities, and any training-repayment clause.
• Negotiate. You can often narrow the scope or strike the clause outright — especially now that most such clauses are void anyway. Get changes in writing.
• Keep a copy of the signed agreement, offer letters, and handbooks.

If a former employer threatens to enforce a non-compete or sends a cease-and-desist letter:

• Do not assume it is valid. If you signed on or after July 1, 2025 and you are not an executive or manager, it is likely void on its face. If you signed earlier, it still fails entirely when overbroad — after Hassler no court will rewrite it to save it.
• Do not take confidential documents or client lists. Those duties survive the non-compete.
• Get legal advice quickly so you can respond before any deadline in the letter or in your contract passes.

Where to Verify This Information

The governing statute is published free by the Wyoming Legislature: read W.S. 1-23-108 in the official Title 1 statutes PDF, and the enrolled act itself (2025 SF0107, Enrolled Act No. 87), which contains the effective date and the applicability rule. For the common-law rule that still governs older contracts, see the Legislative Service Office's memorandum on Hassler v. Circle C Resources. For wage, hour, and workplace questions, the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services and its Labor Standards office are the official state agencies. Because outcomes turn on the precise wording of your agreement and the date you signed it, treat this article as general information and not legal advice, and consult a licensed Wyoming employment attorney about your particular agreement.

Official Wyoming Sources

This page is based on Wyoming employment law. Rules and figures change — verify the current details directly with the official Wyoming sources below. This is general legal information, not legal advice.

• Wyoming Department of Workforce Services — official Wyoming agency.
• File a Claim for Wages - Wyoming DWS Labor Standards
• Wyoming Statutes Title 27 - Labor and Employment

Federal law and local ordinances may also apply. Federal laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act set a national floor, and your city or county may add protections (such as a higher local minimum wage or paid sick leave). Check both alongside Wyoming state law.