Are Non-Competes Enforceable for Therapists and Behavioral Health Staff in Maryland?

Two rules in one statute — Maryland's Labor and Employment Article, §3-716(a) — decide the question for the employees it covers.

The wage rule.

A non-compete is null and void for an employee who earns 150% of the Maryland minimum wage or less.

Maryland's minimum wage has been $15.00 an hour since January 1, 2024, which puts the wage line at $22.50 an hour as of October 2026.

The line tracks the minimum wage, so recheck it if the wage statute changes.

The health-care rule.

A non-compete is also void — on contracts executed on or after July 1, 2025 — for an employee in a position that requires a license under Maryland's Health Occupations Article, provides direct patient care, and earns $350,000 or less in total annual compensation.

All three conditions have to be met at once.

Who that reaches.

Read against Maryland's licensing statutes, the second rule covers licensed clinical professional counselors, clinical marriage and family therapists, clinical alcohol and drug counselors and clinical professional art therapists (Title 17), social workers practicing clinical social work (Title 19), psychologists (Title 18) and licensed behavior analysts (Title 17, Subtitle 6A) — whenever they provide direct patient care and earn at or under $350,000.

Who it does not reach.

Maryland does not ban non-competes for every behavioral health worker.

A position that does not require a Health Occupations Article license — an RBT's, since RBTs are not licensed under Subtitle 6A — falls outside the health-care rule, and an unlicensed employee earning more than $22.50 an hour falls outside §3-716 entirely.

Maryland common law governs that group, and how Maryland courts treat covenants there was outside this page's research, so put it to employment counsel.

This page is Maryland only; the wider picture is in our guide to non-competes nationally.

This one is a statute, not case law.

Maryland wrote its statutory non-compete rules into the Labor and Employment Article, and §3-716(a)(3) says a covered non-compete or conflict-of-interest provision — one that restricts working for a new employer or becoming self-employed in the same or similar business — is null and void as being against the public policy of the State.

The health-care provisions are recent.

2024 Laws of Maryland Ch. 378 (HB 1388), approved April 25, 2024, added them, and the chapter applies them only to employment contracts executed on or after July 1, 2025.

A clinician agreement you signed before that date sits outside the $350,000 ban — and outside the subsection (b) caps that came in with the same provisions.

Where the contract is signed does not matter: §3-716(a) applies whether or not the employer and employee entered into the employment contract in Maryland.

What a choice-of-law clause naming another state's law does to that rule goes beyond this page's research — raise it with employment counsel.

Maryland's health-care ban is written around positions, not professions: it attaches to any position that requires a license under the Health Occupations Article, provides direct patient care and pays $350,000 or less, in a contract executed on or after July 1, 2025.

The working question for a behavioral health hire is therefore where their Maryland license comes from:

• Title 17 — licensed clinical professional counselors, clinical marriage and family therapists, clinical alcohol and drug counselors and clinical professional art therapists must be licensed by their Board under Title 17, and licensed behavior analysts are licensed under Title 17, Subtitle 6A.
• Title 18 — psychologists must be licensed by the State Board of Examiners of Psychologists.
• Title 19 — social workers who represent themselves as social workers must be licensed by the Board of Social Work Examiners, and clinical social work requires the certified social worker–clinical license.

So, on a contract executed on or after July 1, 2025, a licensed BCBA in direct patient care earning $350,000 or less is inside the ban on its face — and so is a licensed counselor, clinical social worker, psychologist or clinical marriage and family therapist in the same position.

Two edges are not settled by the statutory text.

Psychology associates are registered, not licensed, under Title 18, and Maryland certifies rather than licenses some alcohol and drug counselors; whether either meets §3-716's "required to be licensed" prong is unresolved.

Confirm with employment counsel before assuming either way.

For every row below, the position must also provide direct patient care and pay $350,000 or less, in a contract executed on or after July 1, 2025:

For employees the statute covers, there is no reasonableness balancing for a court to do: the clause is null and void as against public policy.

The Maryland legislature made the call, not a judge.

For the group subsection (b) addresses — a licensed, direct-patient-care employee earning more than $350,000, in a contract executed on or after July 1, 2025 — the statute fixes the time and area limits directly: a non-compete may not exceed 1 year from the last day of employment, and it may not exceed 10 miles from the primary place of employment.

The same subsection adds a patient-facing duty: on request of a patient, the employer of a covered former employee must provide notice of the new location where the former employee will be practicing.

Outside the statute — unlicensed positions above the wage line, and contracts executed before July 1, 2025 — Maryland common law governs.

This page's research did not cover Maryland's common-law reasonableness or blue-pencil rules, so do not draft to them without employment counsel.

The ban has a built-in carve-out: §3-716(a) does not apply to provisions about the taking or use of a client or patient list or other proprietary client-related or patient-related information.

Client-list and proprietary-information protections therefore stay available to a Maryland practice even for employees the statute fully protects.

Non-solicitation clauses are different.

The statute does not address them by that name, and whether a client non-solicitation clause counts as a void "noncompete" under §3-716 has not been settled — the same is true of employee non-solicits, on which this research found no verified Maryland rule.

Treat both as drafting questions for employment counsel rather than form-file items.

For how these clauses are treated in other states, and how the ethics codes your clinicians answer to handle client transitions, see our guide to non-solicitation clauses.

The statute closes one door and leaves others open; put your effort where the law leaves room.

• Draft to the carve-out. Because §3-716(a) leaves client-list and proprietary-information provisions alone, that is where your protective drafting belongs: a clause covering the taking or use of your client or patient list and other proprietary client-related or patient-related information, tracked to the statutory language.
• Script the patient-notice step. For a licensed, direct-patient-care employee earning more than $350,000, the on-request duty to tell a patient where a former employee will be practicing belongs in your departure checklist, not in a scramble after the resignation letter arrives.
• Keep any surviving covenant inside the caps. For a licensed, direct-patient-care clinician earning more than $350,000, that means no more than 1 year from the last day of employment and no more than 10 miles from the primary place of employment.
• Use the right tool for training costs. Recouping supervision or training spend is a training repayment agreement's job, and it carries state rules of its own that this page does not cover — see our guide to training repayment agreements.
• Compete on what a covenant cannot hold. Put the energy into pay, supervision quality and schedule control — a void clause keeps no one.

Whatever the package, have employment counsel who practices in Maryland read the final wording before an offer goes out.