Fired for Refusing to Sign a Non-Compete: D.C.’s Ban and Your Retaliation Claim

An employer hands you a non-compete on a Tuesday, you say you would rather not sign it, and by Friday you are out of a job. Most people treat that sequence as bad luck in an at-will jurisdiction. In the District it can be a standalone violation with its own penalties, because the Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act contains an anti-retaliation provision that employees almost never hear about. A wrongful termination attorney in DC will look at that refusal not as a defense to raise later, but as the claim itself.

Can you be fired in D.C. for refusing to sign a non-compete?

Not if the agreement was one the law prohibits. D.C. Code § 32-581.04 makes it unlawful for an employer to retaliate or threaten to retaliate against an employee for refusing to agree to a prohibited non-compete policy or agreement. The protection does not stop at refusal. It also covers an employee who asks about the terms, complains about a policy the employee reasonably believes violates the Act, or tells a coworker, another employer, or the D.C. Department of Employment Services about a suspected violation.

That last piece is broader than most people assume. An employee who never signed anything, and who simply asked HR whether the clause was enforceable, is engaged in protected activity. If the answer to that question was a termination, the sequence itself is the case.

Which non-competes does the District actually ban?

The ban applies to employees below a compensation threshold, not to everyone. The original 2020 law was close to a blanket prohibition. The Non-Compete Clarification Amendment Act of 2022, effective October 1, 2022, narrowed it to “covered employees,” meaning workers who earn less than the highly compensated threshold and who perform work in the District.

That threshold started at $150,000 in total annual compensation, with a higher figure of $250,000 for medical specialists, and it adjusts each year for inflation. The current number is published by the District and should be checked against the year the agreement was presented rather than assumed.

Employers may still use non-competes with highly compensated employees, but only within limits. The agreement has to specify the functional scope of the restricted work, define the geographic area, and cap the restriction at 365 days from separation, or 730 days for medical specialists. It also has to be given to the employee in writing at least 14 days before employment begins or before the employee is required to sign.

The Act reaches agreements entered into on or after October 1, 2022. A non-compete signed years earlier is analyzed under the law that existed then.

What notice was your employer required to give you?

Employers operating in the District must provide written notice of the law’s provisions to employees who work there. The statute prescribes specific language stating that no employer may request or require a covered employee to agree to a non-compete, and requires delivery within 30 days of the start of employment and again within 30 days of any employee request for it.

Missing notice does not by itself prove a retaliation claim, and it is useful evidence. An employer that never gave the required notice, then pressed an unlawful agreement on a covered employee, then terminated that employee for hesitating, has a compliance record that reads badly in front of a factfinder.

What does a wrongful termination attorney in DC look for in these cases?

Timing and documentation carry most of the weight. The strongest files contain a dated copy of the agreement as presented, written proof of the refusal or the question asked, and a termination that follows closely enough to make the employer’s alternative explanation implausible.

Worth gathering before anything else:

• The agreement itself, including any earlier drafts and the email transmitting it
• Any written response you sent declining to sign or asking about the terms
• Your total compensation figures for the relevant year, which determine whether you were a covered employee
• The employer’s stated reason for termination and any performance record predating the non-compete discussion
• Whether you ever received the statutory notice

How is the anti-retaliation provision enforced, and what can you recover?

Enforcement runs through the D.C. Department of Employment Services and the Office of the Attorney General, and an affected employee may also pursue a civil action. The Act sets administrative penalties per violation, generally beginning at $350, with elevated minimums for retaliation specifically, along with statutory relief payable to the employee.

Those statutory amounts are usually not the largest number in the case. A retaliatory discharge produces lost wages, and the non-compete violation frequently sits alongside other claims arising from the same termination, including a common law wrongful discharge theory built on the public policy the statute expresses. Related conduct such as an unlawful confidentiality clause or a clawback presented in the same packet may raise separate issues.

Does the federal non-compete rule change any of this?

No. The Federal Trade Commission issued a rule in 2024 that would have banned most non-competes nationwide, and a federal court set it aside before it took effect. Its status has continued to shift, and District law has governed throughout. Anyone relying on news coverage of the federal rule should assume it provides no protection and look to the D.C. statute instead.

Where to start if this happened to you

A refusal to sign, followed by a firing, is not a coincidence you have to accept. The compensation threshold, the date the agreement was presented, and the notice your employer did or did not provide will determine whether the Act applies, and those facts are easier to establish while the documents are still accessible. Before signing a severance agreement or letting a deadline pass, have the file reviewed by a wrongful termination attorney in DC who can assess the retaliation claim alongside anything else the termination gave rise to.