Colorado’s new restrictive-covenant thresholds, one year on

The earnings threshold moved, the exceptions narrowed, and most template non-competes in circulation are still the old ones.

A year of decisions under the amended statute has produced less drama than expected and one clear pattern: the cases that fail, fail on the threshold rather than on reasonableness. The agreement is unenforceable before anyone reaches the question of whether its geography made sense.

August 2026

What actually changed

Two things matter for most employers. The compensation floor is indexed and moves annually, so an agreement that was compliant when it was signed can stop being compliant without anyone touching it. And the notice requirement is a condition of enforceability rather than a formality — a covenant presented on the first day, with the offer, is in a different position from one presented three weeks earlier.

What we are telling clients

  • Re-paper the population above the threshold; do not re-paper below it, where the covenant will not hold anyway.
  • Separate the non-solicit from the non-compete. They are surviving at very different rates.
  • Diarise the indexation. This is the one that catches people.

None of this is legal advice, and none of it survives contact with a specific set of facts. It is what the last year of orders looks like from where we sit.

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