You signed a non-compete. Now what?

You were handed the agreement on your first day, in a stack with the handbook and the direct-deposit form, at the one moment you had no leverage and badly wanted the job. You signed it without reading it, the way almost everyone does. Now it matters.

I represent employees in non-compete and restrictive covenant disputes across Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties. I have never represented an employer in one of these cases, and I don’t intend to.

What Michigan law actually requires

Michigan does not enforce non-competes automatically. Under MCL 445.774a, an agreement is enforceable only if it protects a reasonable competitive business interest — and only if it is reasonable in its duration, its geographic area, and the type of work it restricts.

Those words do real work. An employer has a protectable interest in its confidential information, its trade secrets, and the customer relationships it paid to build. It does not have a protectable interest in stopping you from earning a living, or in keeping a competitor from hiring good people. A great many agreements are drafted as though it does.

In practice: one year is often found reasonable. Three years rarely is. A geographic restriction that tracks where you actually worked is more defensible than one that covers the whole state because the company has a website. And a Michigan judge has the power to narrow an overbroad agreement rather than strike it — which cuts both ways, and is a reason not to assume an obviously excessive clause will simply be thrown out.

Worth knowing: House Bill 4040, which would make most employee non-competes unenforceable in Michigan and let employees recover lost income and attorney fees, was introduced in January 2025 and is still sitting in committee. It is not law. Anyone who tells you your non-compete is already void is wrong.

The three situations I handle

You are thinking about leaving

This is the best time to call and the time people call least. Before you resign you have options: negotiate a release or a narrowing, structure the new role so it falls outside the restriction, time the move, or simply know with confidence what you are exposed to. After you resign, you have a deadline and someone else’s lawyer setting it.

A cease-and-desist letter has arrived

Usually addressed to you, often copied to your new employer, almost always with a short deadline. Most of these letters never become lawsuits — filing costs real money, requires a verified complaint, and puts the agreement in front of a judge. But ignoring one is how people end up facing an ex parte restraining order with no time to prepare. The answer is a written response that states what you will and will not do and puts the burden back on them to identify the protectable interest they are actually defending.

You have been sued

Defense of non-compete and trade-secret claims, including temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction practice, where the first two weeks decide most of the case.

Who I work with

Most of my non-compete clients are senior people with something to lose: sales directors and account executives, physicians and other clinicians, engineers, financial and accounting professionals, and executives. The agreements are broadest, and the stakes highest, exactly where the compensation is.

Before you call — three things

Find the actual document. Not what you remember signing. Restrictive covenants hide in offer letters, handbooks, equity grants and bonus plans, and people routinely discover they agreed to something broader than they believed.

Do not take anything. No customer lists, no files, no forwarding documents to your personal email — including documents you wrote yourself. This is where defensible cases die. A non-compete fight you can win becomes a trade-secret fight you cannot, and the case stops being about their overbroad agreement and starts being about your conduct.

Write down the dates. When you signed, when you were promoted, when you gave notice, when the letter arrived.

Common questions

Is my non-compete enforceable in Michigan?

It depends on whether it protects a reasonable competitive business interest and whether its duration, geography and scope of restricted work are reasonable. Michigan courts assess this agreement by agreement, against the facts of your job. A judge may also narrow an unreasonable agreement rather than void it entirely.

My employer fired me. Can they still enforce the non-compete?

Often they try. Michigan courts have not adopted a flat rule that a termination without cause defeats enforcement, but the circumstances of your departure matter to how a court views the equities — and to what leverage you have in negotiating a release.

What is the difference between a non-compete and a non-solicit?

A non-compete restricts where you can work. A non-solicit restricts who you can contact — customers, or sometimes former colleagues. Non-solicits are generally easier for employers to enforce because they are narrower, and they are frequently the real restriction in a dispute. Both deserve reading.

I got a cease-and-desist letter with a 48-hour deadline. Is that deadline real?

That deadline is theirs, not the law’s. It is set by the lawyer who wrote the letter, to create pressure. It does not change your rights or your obligations. What it does mean is that the matter is live and worth a call promptly.

Do you review agreements before someone resigns?

Yes, and it is the most useful moment to be involved. Reviewing before you give notice preserves options that disappear the day you resign.

By county

Non-compete cases by county

MCL 445.774a reads the same statewide. The employers, the agreements they use, the courthouse, and the judge hearing the emergency motion do not. Each page below covers one county.

• non-competes in Wayne County — Detroit mortgage and fintech non-solicits, health systems, Ford engineering, staffing and freight.
• non-competes in Oakland County — RSU and option forfeiture, garden leave, supplier headquarters, and out-of-state choice-of-law clauses.
• non-competes in Macomb County — form agreements from tooling and machine shops, CAD and quoting-data claims, cleared defense work.
• non-competes in Washtenaw County — university IP policies, invention assignment, physicians, and Ann Arbor software.