Freedom to Work Act: Fact Checklist and FAQs

This page does not explain how to write, change or get out of a non-compete. Those choices belong to an attorney, and enforceability is decided case by case. What follows, the Pay-Line Fact Pack, is a way to gather facts, plus the points of the Freedom to Work Act that people commonly misread. The rules and numbers page has the full tables.

The Pay-Line Fact Pack

Employers and employees alike can start a legal consultation by assembling these facts.

1. List every signed agreement that limits later work, client contact or hiring of coworkers, including clauses inside bonus, equity or offer-letter paperwork.
2. Note the signing date and the date work started for each one.
3. Pull the pay facts: wages, tips and other compensation from each Form W-2, the elective deferrals added back, and the pay expected on the signing date.
4. Record the job type: construction, union-covered, or mental health care for veterans or first responders.
5. Gather what the file shows about the signing steps, such as any written note to consult an attorney and the date a copy was handed over.
6. Write down what the worker received, such as pay, other benefits or years of continued work.
7. Collect any demand letter, new-employer details or pending claim.
8. Bring the whole pack to an Illinois employment attorney.

Common misreadings

• Treating exactly $75,000 or $45,000 as enough. The statute says annualized earnings must exceed the floor.
• Testing the floor on base salary alone. The statute counts earned bonuses and commissions, other taxable pay and elective deferrals.
• Missing that terms penalizing competing, such as some bonus or equity forfeiture clauses, may count as non-competes.
• Assuming the FTC's national ban or a general Illinois ban applies. Neither does; the Illinois bills are not law.
• Assuming a court will repair an overbroad covenant. The Act says extensive rewriting may be refused.
• Overlooking that an employee who wins when an employer sues to enforce a covenant recovers costs and fees.
• Treating the written attorney advice and the 14-day review as optional. The statute makes a covenant void without them, although an employee may sign sooner voluntarily.

When to talk to an attorney

These are legal questions a CPA cannot answer:

• Writing, reviewing or enforcing any non-compete or non-solicit.
• A departing worker's new employer is a competitor or a client.
• An agreement was signed before 2022 or in another state.
• Buying or selling a business with a seller covenant.
• The worker is in construction, health care or under a union contract.

Frequently asked questions