The state of Washington has a new law on the books that dramatically restricts the viability of non-compete clauses by private businesses. Governor Jay Inslee, a candidate for the democratic presidential nomination, signed HB 1450 into law on Wednesday after the legislature overwhelmingly approved the bill two weeks ago. The new law becomes effective on January 1, 2020 and prohibits all noncompetition agreements for employees whose W-2 earnings are less than $100,000 annually (or an independent contractor earning less than $250,000 per year). The law stems from a franchise owner of a sandwich shop who sought to keep his lower-income employees from moonlighting with other sandwich shops. Under the law’s provisions, employees earning less than twice the state minimum wage cannot be prohibited from moonlighting, nor can any non-compete provision provide that disputes be adjudicated outside of the state of Washington. Finally, it outlaws no-poach provisions in franchise agreements that prohibit a franchisee from soliciting/hiring employees of another franchise owner or the franchisor itself.