Trade Secrets & Employee Mobility

The New York Senate has introduced a bill that, if enacted into law, would amend the New York Labor Law to prohibit the use of noncompetes for healthcare workers, with the limited exception of noncompetes in connection with the sale of a business. On October 16, 2026, Senators Michelle Hinchey and Patricia Fahy introduced Senate Bill S10722 (the “Bill”), that seeks to prohibit employers from entering into noncompetes with certain healthcare workers, as specified in the Bill.

As readers of this blog likely know, many states have entirely different statutory schemes for noncompetes in the healthcare industry. Indeed, while 47 states generally permit noncompetes, more than a dozen expressly prohibit or limit them in certain sectors of the healthcare industry – typically for patient-facing clinicians.

For example, in Massachusetts, noncompetes are not permissible in “[a]ny contract or agreement which creates or establishes the terms of a partnership, employment, or any other form of professional relationship with a physician registered to practice medicine . . . , which includes any restriction of the right of such physician to practice medicine in any geographic area for any period of time after the termination of such partnership, employment or professional relationship.” The same restriction applies to Massachusetts nurses, psychologists, and social workers.