Kansas Passes Pro-Employer Restrictive Covenant Legislation
On April 9, 2025, Kansas Governor Laura Kelley signed into law Senate Bill No. 241 (the “Bill”), which amends the Kansas Restraint of Trade Act (the “Act”) to (a) create presumptions of enforceability for non-solicitation covenants meeting the Act’s requirements, and (b) require reformation of overbroad restrictive covenants . The Act expressly excludes non-competition covenants from its scope. K.S.A. § 50-163(d)(6). The Bill amended Section 50-163 of the Act to clarify the scope of agreements and restrictive covenants covered by the Act. Specifically, the Bill clarified that a non-solicit in which an employee agrees not to solicit employees shall be “conclusively presumed to be enforceable” where it: (a) seeks, on the part of the employer, to protect confidential trade secret business information or customer/supplier information, or (2) does not continue for more than two years following the employee’s employment. K.S.A. § 50-163(c)(4). ...