Non-Competes in Oklahoma: What Employers Actually Need

Your best salesperson just resigned. She's going to your biggest competitor. She knows your pricing, your customer relationships, your sales strategies. You pull out the employment agreement she signed—the one with the non-compete clause your last lawyer assured you was "reasonable." Then your current lawyer tells you it's not worth the paper it's printed on.

This happens constantly in Oklahoma. Employers rely on non-compete agreements that courts won't enforce, leaving them unprotected when the departure they worried about actually happens. The good news is there are tools that work—they're just different from what you might assume.

Why Oklahoma Is Different

Oklahoma has one of the strongest statutory prohibitions on non-compete agreements in the country. Title 15, Section 219A says that any agreement restraining someone from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business "shall be void."

That's not ambiguous. It's not "unenforceable if unreasonable." It's void.

The statute reflects Oklahoma's public policy favoring employee mobility and economic freedom. The principle is that people should be able to work where they want, and employers shouldn't be able to restrict competition by locking up their workforce.

Other states take different approaches. Some enforce "reasonable" non-competes limited by time, geography, and scope. Some have exceptions for specific industries or salary thresholds. Oklahoma just prohibits them, with narrow exceptions.

What Doesn't Work

Traditional non-compete language—"Employee agrees not to work for any competitor within 50 miles for 24 months after termination"—is unenforceable in Oklahoma. Courts won't rewrite it to make it reasonable; they'll void it entirely.

Industry restrictions don't save you. Restricting someone from "the staffing industry" or "oil and gas services" is still a restraint on practicing their profession.

Geographic limitations don't save you. A 10-mile restriction is as void as a 500-mile restriction.

Time limitations don't save you. Six months is as void as five years.

None of the factors that make non-competes "reasonable" in other states matter here. The statute prohibits the category, not just the unreasonable versions.

What Does Work

Oklahoma employers aren't without options. Several tools remain fully enforceable and often provide better protection than non-competes would anyway.

Non-solicitation of established customers is the most directly useful alternative. Section 219A explicitly permits agreements prohibiting former employees from "directly soliciting the sale of goods, services or a combination of goods and services from the established customers of the former employer."

This is narrower than a non-compete. The employee can work for your competitor. They can serve customers who come to them. But they can't pick up the phone and call your customers to take the business away.

To enforce this, you need a written agreement specifying the restriction. You need to be able to identify which customers count as "established customers" the employee had contact with. And you need to understand that passive acceptance of business from customers who initiate contact isn't covered.

Confidentiality agreements protect your actual competitive information. Customer lists, pricing strategies, proprietary processes, business methods—these can be protected as trade secrets or confidential information, wholly apart from any employment restriction.

A well-drafted confidentiality agreement defines what's protected, imposes clear obligations on the employee during and after employment, and provides remedies for breach. Unlike a non-compete, it doesn't restrict where someone works; it restricts what they can use or disclose.

The Oklahoma Uniform Trade Secrets Act provides additional protection for qualified trade secrets, including injunctive relief and damages for misappropriation. If your information genuinely qualifies as a trade secret—if you've treated it as secret and it derives value from being secret—the law protects it whether or not you have an agreement.

Structuring Effective Protection

The employers who protect themselves best focus on what the law allows rather than wishing it allowed something else.

Start with clear identification of what's actually confidential. Vague assertions that "everything is proprietary" aren't credible. Specific identification of customer lists, pricing matrices, strategic plans, and technical processes creates enforceable protection.

Draft agreements that employees can actually understand and that courts will enforce. The confidentiality agreement should be separate from general employment paperwork, specifically identify protected information, and impose reasonable obligations.

Include non-solicitation provisions tailored to your business. Who are your established customers? What counts as solicitation? What's the time period? The clearer you are, the more enforceable the restriction.

Protect information operationally, not just legally. Limit access to sensitive information. Use technical controls. Mark confidential documents. The best legal claims arise when you can show you actually treated the information as secret.

And conduct proper exit procedures. Remind departing employees of their obligations. Collect company property and information. Document the transition. The exit interview isn't just HR housekeeping; it's evidence if you later need to enforce your rights.

When Employees Leave

When the departure happens, move quickly but think carefully. Immediate injunction applications create pressure, but they also require you to prove your case on shortened timelines. Investigation first is usually wiser.

Determine what the employee had access to. Review what they might have taken or retained. Monitor for signs of customer solicitation. Build your evidence before you act.

If you have grounds for action, the remedies include injunctions to stop ongoing violations, damages for harm already caused, and potentially attorney's fees if your agreement provides for them. Trade secret claims can also support punitive damages in egregious cases.

And consider whether litigation is actually the best outcome. Sometimes a conversation or a letter resolves the situation. Sometimes the competitive threat is smaller than the cost of fighting it. Enforcement decisions should be strategic, not reflexive.

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Oklahoma's prohibition on non-competes doesn't leave employers unprotected—it just requires different tools. Non-solicitation agreements, confidentiality protections, and trade secret law provide meaningful safeguards for the competitive information that actually matters.

At Addison Law, we help Oklahoma businesses structure employment protections that work within the law and actually protect competitive interests. If you're reviewing your agreements or dealing with a departing employee situation, contact us.

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This article is for general information only and is not legal advice.