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

For hires at or above the pay floor, yes; for anyone under it, no. Since July 1, 2026, Tennessee law (new Tennessee Code Annotated § 50-1-211, from HB1034, Public Chapter 934 of 2026) has barred employers from requiring, requesting or enforcing a non-compete against an employee whose annualized compensation is less than $70,000, and a non-compete signed in violation is void.

Annualized compensation counts wages, salary, commissions, nondiscretionary bonuses and other remuneration; for an hourly employee it is the hourly rate times 40 times 52.

That arithmetic puts the bar at about $33.65 an hour, a division product rather than a statutory figure.

Above the line, enforcement is workable: courts must presume a restraint of two years or less reasonable in time and a longer one unreasonable, and the statute expressly does not prohibit confidentiality agreements, client or customer non-solicits, or employee non-solicits.

For the other states — and the federal picture — see our guide to non-competes nationally.

Both, and the statute now leads.

House Bill 1034, signed as Public Chapter 934 of 2026, took effect July 1, 2026 and applies to proceedings occurring, and agreements entered into, renewed or amended, on or after that date.

It added Tennessee Code Annotated §§ 50-1-210 and 50-1-211 — the $70,000 floor, the time presumptions, the modification rule and the non-solicit carve-out all come from those two sections.

Underneath sits the common law.

In Murfreesboro Medical Clinic v. Udom, 166 S.W.3d 674, a 2005 decision, the Tennessee Supreme Court held that non-competes are disfavored and construed strictly in favor of the employee, but are enforceable if there is a legitimate business interest to protect and the time and territorial limits are reasonable.

So a summary of Tennessee law as case law plus the healthcare statute below is out of date for agreements entered into, renewed or amended on or after July 1, 2026.

Tennessee's healthcare-specific rule is Tennessee Code Annotated § 63-1-148, and its coverage list decides who is in.

Subsection (a) deems a restriction on an employed or contracted healthcare provider reasonable if it is in a written agreement signed by both parties, lasts two years or less, and is limited to the greater of a 10-mile radius from the provider's primary practice site or that site's county — or, instead, bars practice only at the employer's facilities.

The safe harbor reaches only providers licensed under chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11 of Title 63 — chapter 6 is Medicine and Surgery, chapter 11 Psychologists.

Chapter 7 (Nursing), chapter 19 (Physician Assistants), chapter 22 (Professional Counselors and Marital and Family Therapists) and chapter 23 (Social Workers) are not on the list.

It covers psychiatrists and other physicians (MD/DO) and psychologists — not nurse practitioners, RNs, PAs, licensed professional counselors, MFTs or social workers.

Whether Tennessee behavior analysts are licensed under chapter 11 was not verified — assume neither reading for a BCBA, and confirm with Tennessee employment counsel.

Upperline Healthcare v. Hoover, a federal district court memorandum filed May 29, 2026 in the Middle District of Tennessee, read the section as a safe harbor, not an upper limit, and found a 15-mile radius reasonable for a podiatrist — but the court noted that no Tennessee court had then construed § 63-1-148(a), and its ruling does not bind Tennessee state courts.

The section took effect January 1, 2008 to answer Udom, which had held the physician non-compete at issue unenforceable as against public policy — a bar superseded for covered providers.

Tennessee courts weigh four factors: the consideration supporting the covenant, the threatened danger to the employer in its absence, the economic hardship imposed on the employee, and whether it is inimical to the public interest.

Outside the safe harbor, the territorial question falls to the general reasonableness test — this page's research found no Tennessee statute that supplies a radius for the providers the safe harbor does not cover.

Time.

The statute supplies the starting point: a court must presume reasonable in time a restraint on a former employee or independent contractor of two years or less from termination, and must presume a longer restraint unreasonable.

Both presumptions are rebuttable, and they do not apply to a restraint tied to a sale of the business or an ownership interest — for those, the presumption runs up to five years or the payout period.

Overbreadth.

The 2026 law also lets a court modify a restrictive covenant to render it reasonable and enforceable — draft to the interest you can name rather than counting on a trim you would not choose.

Preserved, expressly.

The 2026 law states that it does not prohibit enforcing confidentiality or nondisclosure agreements, client or customer non-solicitation agreements, or employee non-solicitation agreements — the instruments that protect a caseload without banning a clinician from practicing are the ones the legislature left alone.

One interaction is unsettled: whether the $70,000 bar reaches non-solicitation agreements, because the term “noncompete agreement” is not defined in the text this page relies on.

Draft them narrowly around the clients and referral sources the departing clinician actually worked with, and have Tennessee employment counsel check how the sections interact.

For how other states treat these clauses, and how the ethics codes shape a client's transition when a clinician leaves, see our guide to non-solicitation clauses.

Segment by the pay floor before you draft.

Compute annualized compensation the way § 50-1-211 does — hourly rate × 40 × 52 for hourly staff.

For anyone under $70,000, a non-compete signed in violation is void — the math that can catch hourly RBTs, behavior technicians and case managers.

The tools the statute preserves — confidentiality plus a narrow client non-solicit — cover the active caseload without banning a clinician from working.

Stay inside the safe harbor for covered providers.

For a psychiatrist or psychologist hire, a written agreement signed by both parties, two years or less, and a territory no wider than the greater of a 10-mile radius from the primary practice site or that site's county buys the statutory presumption of reasonableness.

Upperline shows a federal court accepting more than the safe harbor, but it does not bind Tennessee's state courts — draft to the safe harbor, not past it.

Mind the dates.

Renewing or amending an older agreement on or after July 1, 2026 moves it into the new regime.

And where you front a clinician's training or supervision costs, a repayment clause is a separate instrument — see our guide to training repayment agreements before adding one.