Veterinary Non-Competes in Oregon
Oregon governs a veterinarian's noncompetition agreement through ORS 653.295, which voids the agreement unless the employer gives written notice at least two weeks before employment begins, or offers it upon a later bona fide advancement, the employee is exempt under ORS 653.020(3), the agreement protects a protectable interest, a signed copy follows within 30 days of termination, and salary and commissions at termination exceed a threshold — $119,541 in 2026.
The statute caps duration at 12 months, voiding anything beyond that, down from 18 months after a 2021 amendment.
Oregon has no separate healthcare non-compete law reaching veterinarians.
Mechanics, not a verdict on your contract
At a glance
Permitted only within statutory limits
State statute — ORS 653.295 (Oregon's noncompetition agreement statute).
Healthcare statute reaches veterinarians: No healthcare-specific non-compete statute.
ORS 653.295(1) voids a noncompetition agreement unless the employer gives written notice at least two weeks before employment begins (or offers it upon a later bona fide advancement), the employee is an exempt employee described in ORS 653.020(3), the agreement protects a protectable interest, a signed copy is provided within 30 days of termination, and the employee's salary and commissions at termination exceed the statutory threshold.
Oregon has no healthcare-specific non-compete statute; ORS 653.295's general wage-threshold rule applies to a veterinarian's covenant the same as to any other employee.
The base statutory salary threshold is $100,533, adjusted annually for inflation and measured at the time of termination; the current 2026 indexed figure is $119,541 (2025: $116,427), published by Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries. A separate garden-leave route in subsection (7) can bind an employee who falls short of that figure, but only for the same 12-month term.
ORS 653.295(3) caps a noncompetition agreement's term at 12 months from the date of the employee's termination, reduced from 18 months by a 2021 amendment; the statute states that any term beyond 12 months is void and cannot be enforced by an Oregon court. The sources read do not state a separate geographic radius limit.
Not stated in the sources read.
Not stated in the sources read.
ORS 653.295(5) excludes bonus restriction agreements and covenants not to solicit the employer's employees or customers from this statute's notice, protectable-interest, salary-threshold, and duration conditions. The statute itself calls bonus restriction agreements lawful agreements Oregon courts may enforce; it does not state what standard governs a non-solicitation covenant instead.
Last amended in 2021, effective on or about January 1, 2022, for the current 12-month duration cap.
What Oregon’s text actually says
“is void and unenforceable unless: (a) The employer informs the employee in a written employment offer received by the employee at least two weeks before the first day of the employee's employment that a noncompetition agreement is required...”
The gate a veterinarian's non-compete has to pass in Oregon
ORS 653.295(1) voids a noncompetition agreement between an employer and a veterinarian unless several conditions are all met.
The employer must give the employee written notice, in a written employment offer, at least two weeks before the employee's first day of work, that a noncompetition agreement will be required — or, alternatively, offer the agreement upon a later bona fide advancement.
The employee must be an exempt administrative, executive, or professional employee described in ORS 653.020(3).
The agreement also has to protect a protectable interest of the employer, and within 30 days after the employment relationship ends the employer must give the employee a signed copy of the agreement.
Finally, the employee's total annual gross salary and commissions at termination have to exceed a statutory dollar threshold, adjusted for inflation each year.
For an associate veterinarian reading an employment offer, the exempt-employee status and salary figure are worth checking alongside the notice timing before anything about the covenant's length or scope.
“is void and unenforceable unless: (a) The employer informs the employee in a written employment offer received by the employee at least two weeks before the first day of the employee's employment that a noncompetition agreement is required...”
Oregon has no separate non-compete law for healthcare workers or veterinarians
Oregon has not enacted a non-compete statute that names health care practitioners, physicians, or veterinarians specifically.
A veterinarian's non-compete is governed only by the general wage-threshold and notice regime in ORS 653.295 — the same statute that applies to any other Oregon employee who meets its conditions.
A veterinarian who has read about a state limiting "healthcare worker" non-competes should not assume that description fits Oregon: there is no separate carve-out to check here, only the general rule described above.
The salary threshold and duration cap that apply once the statute's conditions are met
Under ORS 653.295(1)(e), a noncompetition agreement can only bind an employee whose total annual gross salary and commissions, measured at the time the employment relationship ends, exceed a statutory figure that started at $100,533 and adjusts for inflation each year; Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries lists the current 2026 figure as $119,541 (2025: $116,427).
Below that figure, ORS 653.295(1) makes the agreement void under that condition, unless the separate garden-leave route in subsection (7) applies.
Under (7), an employer can still enforce a noncompetition agreement against an employee who does not meet the exempt-employee condition in (1)(b) or the salary threshold in (1)(e), if the employer agrees in writing to pay, for the restricted period, the greater of 50 percent of the employee's annual gross base salary and commissions at termination, or 50 percent of the indexed $100,533 figure — but that route does not waive any of the agreement's other conditions, and it does not extend the term past the same 12-month cap that ORS 653.295(3) sets for every qualifying agreement.
“(e) The total amount of the employee's annual gross salary and commissions... exceeds $100,533, adjusted annually for inflation...”
Non-solicitation and bonus-restriction agreements sit outside this statute
ORS 653.295(5) expressly carves out two other covenant types from the conditions described above: agreements not to solicit the employer's employees or customers, and what the statute calls "bonus restriction agreements." Neither is subject to the notice, protectable-interest, salary-threshold, or 12-month conditions.
For bonus restriction agreements, the statute goes further and calls them lawful agreements that Oregon courts may enforce.
For a non-solicitation clause, the statute is silent on what standard applies instead — it only says the notice-and-threshold conditions above do not govern it.
“bonus restriction agreements”
What changed in 2021, and why an 18-month cap is now wrong
Oregon's duration cap was reduced from 18 months to 12 months by a 2021 amendment, effective on or about January 1, 2022.
Older commentary that still describes an 18-month Oregon cap predates that change and should not be relied on for anything dated 2022 or later.
ORS 653.295(3) also states directly that any part of a noncompetition agreement's term beyond 12 months is void and cannot be enforced by an Oregon court, so a covenant drafted for longer does not fail outright — only the excess time drops out.
The salary threshold has also moved every year since enactment through the statute's own inflation adjustment, most recently to $119,541 for 2026, measured as of the employee's termination date.
“The term of a noncompetition agreement may not exceed 12 months from the date of the employee's termination.”
What this page does not answer for Oregon
ORS 653.295(4) limits the notice, protectable-interest, salary-threshold, and duration conditions above to a noncompetition agreement made in the context of an employment relationship or contract, and not otherwise.
The sources read for this page do not state how that limit bears on a covenant tied to selling a veterinary practice or an ownership interest — only that the statute's own conditions are framed around an employment relationship.
The sources also do not state how an Oregon court treats a noncompetition agreement that fails one of the statute's conditions outright, such as missing the two-week notice.
Those gaps are left blank here rather than filled from another state's rule — take a buy-in or buy-out covenant, or any covenant already in dispute, to an Oregon attorney with the whole agreement in hand.
Have the agreement itself reviewed
Start with the mechanics
The reasonableness test, what a radius is measured from, the access-to-care argument, and the difference between a non-compete and a non-solicitation clause are covered in the national guide to veterinary non-competes. This page covers only what is specific to Oregon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Oregon's non-compete law apply to veterinarians the same as everyone else?
Yes.
Oregon has not enacted a separate non-compete statute for health care practitioners or veterinarians, so a veterinarian's noncompetition agreement is governed by the same statute, ORS 653.295, that applies to any other Oregon employee.
That means the same notice timing, salary threshold, and 12-month duration cap apply regardless of the veterinarian's license.
An Oregon attorney who handles veterinary employment agreements can walk through how those conditions read against your specific offer.
Is there a salary level below which an Oregon veterinarian cannot be bound by a non-compete?
Generally, yes.
Under ORS 653.295(1)(e), a noncompetition agreement can only bind an employee whose total annual gross salary and commissions, measured at the time employment ends, exceed a statutory threshold that adjusts for inflation each year — Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries lists the 2026 figure as $119,541.
Below that figure, the salary-threshold condition is not met, though ORS 653.295(7) lets an employer still enforce the agreement by agreeing in writing to pay the greater of 50 percent of the employee's salary and commissions or 50 percent of the indexed threshold during the restricted period.
An Oregon employment attorney can confirm the figure in effect at your termination date and how the garden-leave route applies to your pay.
How long can an Oregon veterinary non-compete run?
ORS 653.295(3) caps a qualifying noncompetition agreement at 12 months from termination, and any part of the term beyond that is void and unenforceable in Oregon.
That figure is down from an 18-month cap a 2021 amendment removed, so an 18-month Oregon limit described elsewhere is out of date.
ORS 653.295(7) also lets an employer enforce an agreement against an employee who misses the exempt-employee or salary conditions, if the employer agrees in writing to pay the greater of 50 percent of salary and commissions or 50 percent of the indexed threshold, but that route still runs 12 months, not longer.
Ask an Oregon attorney which version applied to your agreement.
Does selling my share of an Oregon veterinary practice change how a non-compete is treated?
ORS 653.295(4) limits the statute's conditions to a noncompetition agreement made in the context of an employment relationship or contract, and not otherwise.
The sources read for this page do not say how that limit bears on a covenant tied to selling a practice or an ownership interest, so this page does not answer that question directly.
A buy-in or buy-out agreement often carries its own covenant, drafted alongside the purchase terms.
Before signing one, have an Oregon attorney who handles veterinary practice transactions review the covenant together with the purchase agreement.
Are client non-solicitation clauses treated the same as non-competes in Oregon?
No. ORS 653.295(5) expressly excludes non-solicitation agreements and what it calls "bonus restriction agreements" from its notice, salary-threshold, and duration conditions, so those clauses are not governed by the rules described on this page.
The statute separately calls bonus restriction agreements lawful agreements Oregon courts may enforce, but it does not say what standard applies to a non-solicitation clause instead.
An Oregon attorney can tell you how a specific non-solicitation clause in your contract is evaluated.
More Oregon Non-Compete Resources
Sources
Sourced from Oregon’s own statute or leading court decisions (see the citations above). Verified September 2026; the governing provision was last amended Last amended in 2021, effective on or about January 1, 2022, for the current 12-month duration cap. This page is general information, not legal advice.