Business Vantage Point Blog

Florida continues to attract senior executives, financial professionals, insurance producers, advisers, investment personnel and other highly compensated talent. For finance and insurance firms, that migration presents both an opportunity and a challenge. Remote work allows firms headquartered anywhere in the United States to recruit and retain employees who choose to live in Florida. At the same time, when those employees control important client relationships or receive sensitive business information, employers need a strategy to keep that talent connected to the firm and protect the firm if the relationship ends.

Noncompetes are relatively standard in relationship-driven sectors such as finance and insurance. In adopting its since-vacated nationwide ban in 2024, the Federal Trade Commission found that noncompetes were widespread across the economy and estimated that approximately one in five American workers — or about 30 million workers — was subject to one.

Effective in August 2025, Florida’s Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth Act (CHOICE Act) offers qualifying employers a potentially powerful tool. The act permits covered noncompete and garden leave agreements lasting up to four years and creates an employer-friendly enforcement framework. For finance and insurance firms employing top talent remotely from Florida, however, the act’s protections depend on careful attention to the employee’s work location, compensation structure, access to protected information, and the agreement process.

When Does the CHOICE Act Reach a Florida Remote Worker?

A covered noncompete or garden leave agreement may fall within the act when the covered employee maintains a primary place of work in Florida, regardless of a contractual choice-of-law provision. The statute defines a primary place of work as the “location where the covered employee spends more work time than any other single workplace.” A senior executive, adviser, producer, underwriter or investment professional who regularly works from a Florida home office may therefore fall within the act even if the employer is headquartered elsewhere and the employee serves clients nationwide.

Which Remote Workers Are ‘Covered Employees’?

The act applies only to a covered employee, defined as an employee or individual contractor who earns, or is reasonably expected to earn, a salary greater than twice the annual mean wage for the applicable Florida county. If the employer’s principal place of business is in Florida, the relevant benchmark is the county where that principal place of business is located. If the employer is headquartered outside Florida, the benchmark is the Florida county where the employee resides.

The compensation analysis is especially important in finance and insurance. “Salary” under the act is not necessarily the same as total compensation or W-2 income. It includes annualized base compensation and certain other compensation for personal services, but excludes anticipated and indeterminable bonuses and commissions, along with healthcare benefits, severance, retirement benefits, expense reimbursements and certain other payments. Thus, employers should separate qualifying salary from excluded compensation rather than assume high annual earnings establish coverage.

Keeping Top Talent Connected Through Noncompete and Garden Leave Protections

For qualifying workers, the CHOICE Act offers two distinct approaches. A covered noncompete may restrict an employee for up to four years, within a defined geographic area, from assuming a role involving services similar to those performed for the employer during the preceding three years or a role in which the employee would be reasonably likely to use the employer’s confidential information or customer relationships.

For firms seeking to keep important talent connected to the organization, a covered garden-leave agreement may offer a more relationship-focused alternative. It may require up to four years of advance notice before the employment or contractor relationship ends. During the notice period, the employer generally continues the employee’s salary and specified benefits. After the first 90 days, the employee need not continue providing services and may engage in non-work activities. The employee may work elsewhere with the employer’s permission, and the employer may shorten the notice period by providing at least 30 days’ written notice if the agreement allows it.

Early Leverage Through the CHOICE Act’s Preliminary Enforcement Mechanisms

The CHOICE Act substantially strengthens an employer’s position at the preliminary injunction stage by placing a significant burden on the employee or new employer seeking to avoid that order. Responding employees generally must present clear and convincing evidence that the new role does not involve similar services, protected information, customer relationships or competing business activity covered by the agreement.

The Bottom Line

With the “snowbird migration” season approaching — when employees working in the Northeast and Midwest head down to Florida for the winter months — employers interested in reviewing remote work arrangements or developing a CHOICE Act strategy should contact employment counsel to discuss the protections available for their workforce.