[No1]

I’m curious if you consulted with an attorney about that? I’ve heard the opposite from people looking to move from Chicago to CA. Does your former employer have a nexus in CA?

Using Florida as an example, if your contract was signed in Florida, your former employer is in Florida, and your case is tried in Florida, the courts aren’t going to pay any regard to California law, and you can be found liable for breach of contract and damages. Correct me if I’m wrong.

[OkayPhysicist]

SB 699 (passed in 2024) made noncompetes illegal to enforce against against California workers, regardless of where the noncompete was signed. It's very unambiguous on the topic. However, as you correctly pointed out, that involves getting your case in front of a California judge, which you best bet the company suing you for violation of your noncompete is going to do their damndest to avoid.

However, under the wording of SB 699, even if you get sued for violating your noncompete in, say, Michigan, and lose, you can then sue that company, in California courts, and as long as California has jurisdiction (which they probably do, given most businesses don't completely avoid doing business in the largest economy in the country), you can successfully sue them for suing you over the noncompete.

[lokar]

The agreements don’t have damages (other than the loss of deferred compensation as I noted).

The normal way to use the agreement is to seek injunctive relief. That would have the be in CA, where no judge will allow it.

And they did informally confirm they could not prevent me of taking a competitive job, which my employment lawyer confirmed.