Colorado law makes most noncompete agreements void unless a statutory exception applies, chiefly for highly compensated workers above an earnings threshold the state adjusts annually, and the law tightened in 2022 (HB22-1317) and again in 2025 (SB25-083). The agreement's date decides which version governs. Severance is separate: Colorado does not require it, and an offer is usually a trade of money for a release of claims.
In this guide
Five different restrictions that get called 'noncompetes'
Precision matters here, because Colorado treats these differently. A noncompete restricts working for competitors. A nonsolicitation agreement restricts recruiting customers or coworkers. A confidentiality or NDA provision restricts using or disclosing information. Trade-secret obligations exist under statute whether or not you signed anything. And severance or equity agreements can embed any of the above as conditions of payment.
When someone says 'I have a noncompete,' the first question is which of these the document actually contains, and the second is when it was signed.
Colorado's default: void unless an exception applies
C.R.S. § 8-2-113 makes covenants not to compete void unless they fit a statutory exception. Since the 2022 rewrite (HB22-1317), the main employment exceptions are: a noncompete for a highly compensated worker, no broader than needed to protect trade secrets; a nonsolicitation covenant for workers earning at least 60 percent of the highly-compensated threshold; and narrower carve-outs, including for the purchase and sale of a business.
The earnings thresholds adjust annually and are published by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. A covenant signed when your earnings were below the applicable threshold does not become enforceable later by pointing at the statute; the details are date- and fact-specific, which is why the document and the pay history get read together.
Notice rules that void covenants on their own
Colorado requires separate written notice of a covenant's terms, before a prospective worker accepts an offer, or at least 14 days before an existing worker's covenant takes effect. A covenant delivered without proper notice is void regardless of how enforceable its substance might have been.
This is the quiet escape hatch in many Colorado disputes: before arguing about thresholds and trade secrets, check whether the notice was ever given correctly.
Sources [1]
The 2025 changes: healthcare providers and equity owners
SB25-083 (2025) tightened the statute again for agreements entered into on or after its effective date. It further restricts covenants for licensed healthcare providers, building on Colorado's existing physician provisions, and it changed how repayment and forfeiture provisions tied to minority equity ownership are treated.
The through-line of the last several years of Colorado legislation is that the agreement's date controls. A 2019 covenant, a 2023 covenant, and a 2026 covenant with identical wording can have three different legal fates, so the signing date is the first fact an attorney will ask for.
Sources [3]
Reading a Colorado severance offer
Colorado law does not require severance; an offer is a contract in which the employer buys certainty, usually a release of claims, sometimes new restrictive covenants, occasionally a noncompliant NDA. Three things to check before signing: what claims you are releasing and what they might be worth (a release usually covers discrimination, retaliation, and wage claims you may not have evaluated); what new obligations the agreement adds, including covenants that would be void if challenged; and what the offer omits, such as earned bonuses, commissions, or vacation that Colorado law already requires the employer to pay regardless of any agreement.
The response deadline in a severance offer is a negotiation clock, not a statute of limitations, but it is real. A review before it runs costs nothing and routinely changes the terms.
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Questions, answered.
Is my Colorado noncompete enforceable?
It depends on four things: when it was signed (the 2022 and 2025 amendments are not retroactive), your earnings against the threshold in force at signing and enforcement, whether the required separate notice was given, and whether the covenant is no broader than needed to protect trade secrets. Many Colorado covenants fail at least one of these. No general answer substitutes for reading the document.
I'm a nurse practitioner with a noncompete. Did the 2025 law change anything for me?
Possibly. SB25-083 further restricted restrictive covenants for licensed healthcare providers for agreements entered on or after its effective date, and Colorado already limited physician covenants before that. The agreement's date and your license category decide which rules apply, which makes this a document-specific review rather than a yes or no.
Source [3]
Can my employer make severance conditional on signing a new noncompete?
Employers do attach covenants to severance, but the covenant still has to satisfy Colorado's statute on its own: the exception, the threshold, and the notice rules all apply. A void covenant does not become enforceable because it arrived inside a severance agreement, and that is leverage in the negotiation.
Source [1]
How long do I have to bring a contract or compensation claim in Colorado?
Colorado contract claims are generally subject to a 3-year period, with some liquidated, determinable amounts carrying 6 years, and unpaid earned compensation may also support a Colorado Wage Act claim with its own 2-to-3-year window and penalty structure. A severance offer's response date is far shorter than any of these, which is why the review should come first.
Source [5]