Is My Louisiana Non-Compete Enforceable?

Louisiana law disfavors non-compete agreements — La. R.S. 23:921 voids most of them by default, and only allows narrow exceptions with strict, specific requirements. Whether you are an employer relying on one or an employee bound by one, answer a few questions about the agreement for a rough read on where it stands. It is not legal advice, and only a lawyer reviewing the actual document can tell you for sure.

Louisiana courts apply these requirements strictly — a missing element can void the restriction. A court will not rewrite an overbroad restriction into a reasonable one, but it may strike an overbroad part (such as a catch-all area added to a list of named parishes) and enforce the valid remainder, especially when the agreement has a severability clause. Answer what you know; if you are unsure of an answer, say so and the tool will flag it.

The screener

What situation created this non-compete?

Louisiana law allows non-competes only in the situations La. R.S. 23:921 lists: employment (including an independent contractor working under a written contract), the sale of a business, the dissolution of a partnership, an owner’s agreement with a corporation, partnership, or LLC, and a franchise. Everything else is void by default.

Is it in writing, and signed by the person being restricted? What is the stated duration of the restriction, in months? No specific duration is stated in the agreement

Louisiana caps the after-the-relationship restriction at two years (24 months) from the triggering event — termination, sale, dissolution, leaving the business, or the end of a franchise. Longer than that, or no stated duration at all, voids the restriction. (A franchise agreement may also restrict competition while the franchise lasts, and physician agreements follow special rules.)

How is the geographic area described?

This is the single most common reason Louisiana non-competes fail. The law requires specific, named parishes or municipalities — a general or regional description with no named parishes leaves nothing valid, and Louisiana courts will not rewrite it into a “reasonable” area. If the agreement names specific parishes and also adds a broader catch-all, a court may strike the catch-all and enforce the named parishes.

Please read. This tool is a free educational aid, not legal advice, and using it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It applies only the core structural requirements of La. R.S. 23:921 in simplified form and cannot read the actual document, weigh the specific facts, or account for every defense and exception — including how courts treat non-solicitation clauses, multi-state employment, or a choice-of-law clause selecting another state. One nuance worth knowing regardless of your result: Louisiana courts do not rewrite an overbroad non-compete into a reasonable one. But where the agreement names specific parishes and also contains language that goes too far, a court may strike the overbroad part and enforce the rest — a severability clause in the contract helps that happen. A restriction that names no valid parish at all cannot be saved that way. Special rules also apply to physicians (La. R.S. 23:921(M)–(N)) and, from August 1, 2026, to certain student interns and apprentices (Acts 2026, No. 150). This screener never tells you that an agreement is definitely enforceable or definitely void. Whether you are trying to enforce a non-compete or get out of one, do not rely on this result to make a decision — have the actual document reviewed before you act, sign, resign, or compete.

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