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

New Hampshire answers the question differently depending on whom you hire.

Four statutes void practice restrictions for physicians, nurses, APRNs and physician associates — each for new contracts or renewals on or after its effective date.

Everyone else signs under New Hampshire's general rules: no statute we located voids non-competes for therapists, clinical social workers, clinical mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, psychologists, BCBAs or support staff.

Two statutes govern — the non-compete must be provided before the offer is accepted (RSA 275:70), and a non-compete with a low-wage employee is unenforceable (RSA 275:70-a) — and beyond them, enforceability is a common-law question, taken up below.

How New Hampshire compares with the states that do write bans naming behavioral health licenses is national context: see our guide to non-competes nationally.

For the workforce without a profession-specific statute, New Hampshire's rules are statutory.

RSA 275:70 requires a New Hampshire employer that requires a non-compete from a new hire to provide a copy before the employee accepts the offer; an undisclosed non-compete is unenforceable against the employee.

The failure is narrow: under RSA 275:70 only the non-compete becomes unenforceable — confidentiality, nondisclosure, trade-secret and other provisions in the agreement stay in force.

The second general rule is RSA 275:70-a, which prohibits a non-compete with a low-wage employee — one earning an hourly rate less than or equal to 200% of the federal minimum wage.

With the federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour, that covers New Hampshire employees earning $14.50 an hour or less as of October 7, 2026, a figure that moves if the federal minimum wage changes.

Beyond those two statutes, enforceability with a therapist, counselor or BCBA rests on case law — the next section.

For new contracts or renewals on or after each statute's effective date, the four New Hampshire clinician statutes void any contract term restricting the clinician's right to practice in any geographic area for any period after the relationship ends.

They name the professions directly: physicians — the statute reaches psychiatrists — nurses, APRNs including PMHNPs, and physician associates.

In each case only the practice restriction is void; the remaining provisions of the contract stay enforceable.

There is no behavioral health equivalent in the licensing chapters this page checked.

New Hampshire's mental health practice chapter, RSA 330-A — covering clinical social workers, school social workers, pastoral psychotherapists, clinical mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists — contains no provision voiding non-competes, and neither does the psychologist chapter, RSA 329-B.

BCBAs and the rest of a behavioral health roster fall under the general rules as well.

Which states do name behavioral health licenses in their bans is national context: see our guide to non-competes nationally.

For a staffing plan, that splits New Hampshire hiring in two: for psychiatrists, PMHNPs, PAs and nurses on new contracts or renewals on or after the effective dates, the practice restriction is void; for everyone else, the covenant stands or falls on disclosure, the low-wage threshold and the common law's reasonableness review.

For clinicians outside the four statutes, enforceability rests on the two statutes above plus the common law — whether a court finds the covenant reasonable.

New Hampshire courts are reported to apply a three-part reasonableness test to employee non-competes (the 1991 New Hampshire case Technical Aid Corp. versus Allen, 134 New Hampshire Reports 1).

One caution: we know that case from where it is cited in a New York Court of Appeals decision, not from reading the New Hampshire opinion itself — treat the outline as a starting point and have New Hampshire employment counsel confirm how the test is applied today.

The sources behind this page describe that test only as a three-part reasonableness test; they do not set out what its three parts are, so confirm the current formulation with counsel.

What a restrictive covenant is written in, though, is time, geographic area and the interest behind it — and none of the New Hampshire statutes cited on this page supplies a number for any of them: no maximum months, no mile radius.

So set a duration matched to the interest you are protecting, a geography limited to where this clinician actually worked or served clients, and a scope tied to the work they did for you.

The interest half is the one practices skip: before the clause goes into an offer, write down what you would actually lose if this clinician left and set up across town, and be honest about whether a court would call it a competitive interest.

The New Hampshire clinician statutes are written around practicing in a geographic area for a period of time.

Their text does not address patient non-solicitation clauses, and whether a patient non-solicit signed by a psychiatrist, nurse, APRN or physician associate counts as a restriction on practice is not settled by the sources this page relies on.

Do not assume a non-solicit is the safe workaround for a covered hire — ask New Hampshire employment counsel first.

For the rest of the roster, this page's research covered New Hampshire's non-compete statutes, not how its courts treat non-solicitation clauses — the same caution applies.

A non-solicit binds the clinician who signed it — restricting solicitation of your clients or referral sources — not the client, who stays free to choose where to receive care.

What the ethics codes expect when a clinician departs is covered in our guide to non-solicitation clauses.

Hand the agreement over with the offer, not at the signing table.

RSA 275:70 makes disclosure before acceptance a condition of enforceability, so the non-compete belongs in the offer packet for every New Hampshire hire — and if one slips through, only the non-compete is lost; the confidentiality, nondisclosure and trade-secret provisions stay in force.

Check the hourly rate before you draft.

At $14.50 an hour or less — 200% of the current $7.25 federal minimum wage — RSA 275:70-a prohibits the non-compete outright.

The definition turns on the hourly rate, not the job title.

Recheck the figure if the federal minimum wage changes.

For physician, nurse, APRN and PA hires, spend the negotiating capital elsewhere: on new contracts or renewals on or after the effective dates, a practice restriction with a psychiatrist, nurse, APRN or physician associate is void as to the restriction — put the effort into the provisions that survive instead.

If the worry behind the covenant is money you spent training someone who then leaves, a training repayment agreement is a different tool with its own rules — see our guide to training repayment agreements before adding one to an offer.

Either way, have New Hampshire employment counsel read the final wording.