Texas Noncompete Radius: Remote Work for a DC Company

Photo: Christian Velitchkov / Unsplash. AI-assisted tonal treatment and crop. Illustrative stock photo; depicts no party to a dispute.

Do not assume a DC employer’s address clears a Texas 10-mile restriction. Review what the signed clause prohibits, its geographic reference point, your actual duties and where the work is performed or directed. Texas requires a contextual enforceability analysis; the number of miles alone is not a universal permission or prohibition.

Separate the four location facts in your proposed job

Texas Business and Commerce Code 15.50(a) requires reasonable limits on time, geography and activity, no greater than necessary for goodwill or another business interest, within its ancillary-agreement framework. It does not designate ten miles as universally valid. The written restriction and actual work need review together. Texas Business and Commerce Code 15.50 and 15.51

Build this record before describing the job as “outside the radius.” Put the company address, your home office, the customer market and the contract’s reference point in different rows. The table is a practical intake aid, not a legal test deciding your case.

1. Find the exact geographical wording.
2. Locate every activity restriction and definition.
3. Record work sites and customer territories separately.
4. Send the complete proposed role and agreement to Texas employment counsel.

Check the restricted activity before relying on a map

Compare the actual verbs in your clause. Does it prohibit employment by a competitor located in the area, performing specified work within the area, soliciting specified customers, or several activities? Those are different passages to investigate. Do not replace them with an informal summary such as “no job within ten miles.”

Record the centre point and any definitions of office, territory, competitor and customer. If the wording does not state whether distance means driving distance or another measurement, label that ambiguity for counsel. Do not choose the method that gives you the preferred result and call the issue resolved.

Texas’s statutory framework tests geographical area alongside duration and activity scope. A map can help identify facts, but it cannot establish the ancillary-agreement requirement or whether the restraint exceeds the business interest protected. Texas Business and Commerce Code 15.50 and 15.51

Keep a separate copy of any customer non-solicitation restriction. A conclusion about employment location does not answer every restriction in the contract.

Three versions of the same proposed move

In a fictional example, a Texas support worker stays at home and joins a DC company. One job description assigns only distant accounts. Another includes customers in the old employer’s territory. A third changes both duties and customer access. List each version separately and ask counsel about the exact version you may accept.

These examples do not establish that a distant customer list always permits remote work, or that sitting at home always breaches a clause. They show why the proposed duties and contractual wording belong beside the locations.

Review enforceability and remedies as different questions

Under Texas 15.50(a), the covenant must be ancillary to or part of an otherwise enforceable agreement at the time the agreement is made. Its limits must satisfy the statutory standard. Preserve the full agreement so counsel can assess that requirement, rather than reviewing only the paragraph with the radius. Texas Business and Commerce Code 15.50 and 15.51

For agreements primarily obligating personal services, section 15.51(b) puts the burden of establishing the statutory criteria on the party seeking the promise’s enforcement. A different primary purpose changes the statutory burden. Section 15.51(a) addresses damages and injunctive relief, subject to subsection (c). Texas Business and Commerce Code 15.50 and 15.51

When subsection (c)’s conditions are met, a court must reform an otherwise qualifying covenant with unreasonable, excessive limitations and enforce it as reformed. It bars the enforcing party’s damages for breach before reformation and limits that party’s relief to an injunction. Do not turn overbreadth into a prediction that every restriction disappears. Texas Business and Commerce Code 15.50 and 15.51

Physicians and the listed health-care practitioners have additional statutory provisions, including specific geographical limits. If your work is regulated health care, identify your profession and the agreement dates before using a general employee checklist. This guide does not calculate a clinician’s buyout or decide the applicable transitional rules. Texas Business and Commerce Code 15.50 and 15.51

A Washington, DC company does not automatically supply DC coverage

DC Code 32-581.01 defines covered employees using compensation classification and work-location conditions. For an employee who has started, one route requires more than 50% of the employer work time in the District. A separate route concerns employment based in DC, regular substantial work time there, and not more than 50% for that employer in another jurisdiction. DC Code 32-581.01: definitions

For a person who has not started, the statute uses the employer’s reasonable anticipation of the specified work pattern. Its employee definition also concerns paid work in the District or reasonably anticipated paid work there. A Texas home-office worker should not substitute the hiring company’s mailing address for those conditions. DC Code 32-581.01: definitions

Beginning October 1, 2022, DC Code 32-581.02 prohibits requiring or requesting covered employees to sign agreements or follow policies with noncompete provisions. Its voidness rule concerns violating provisions in agreements entered into on or after that date. This is not a finding that DC law cancels a prior Texas employer’s agreement in your situation. DC Code 32-581.02: covered employee prohibition

As of January 1, 2026, DC’s restriction applies to employees earning less than $162,164, or medical specialists earning less than $270,274. The notice identifies a highly compensated employee exception: employers may establish written noncompetes at or above those amounts, subject to its stated conditions. DC 2026 noncompete public notice

Ask counsel to review the old restriction and any new employment terms separately. Record anticipated DC attendance accurately. The statute adjusts qualifying compensation annually, so do not treat its initial dollar figures as a current universal threshold. DC Code 32-581.01: definitions

Complete a proposed-role matrix without inventing clearance

This fictional review concerns Taylor, a Texas employee offered remote support work by Cedar DC. Taylor’s home is inside the contract’s stated circle. Cedar has an office in DC, but Taylor expects to work entirely from Texas. The signed clause and proposed duties are attached to the packet.

The register deliberately leaves the legal conclusion open. Its completed entries help counsel evaluate the actual employment proposal. If the new employer can change assignments, include that possibility instead of presenting a distant-market job description as permanently fixed.

Sample clarification request, adapt with a licensed lawyer

Please identify the exact agreement version, geographic reference point and activity restriction you believe applies to the proposed role. My proposed work location and duties are described in the attached summary. Please clarify whether any written consent or release process is available. I am obtaining advice before making a substantive response; this request does not concede enforceability.

Keep information-handling and actual remedies in the packet

In Merritt Hawkins v Gresham, the Fifth Circuit reviewed separate noncompete, non-solicitation, computer-file and other claims. It vacated exemplary damages and otherwise affirmed. That decision is not a universal ten-mile remote-work clearance. It illustrates why a worker’s packet should identify the different claims actually alleged. Merritt Hawkins v Gresham, Fifth Circuit, June 21, 2017

Federal trade-secret law separately permits conditioned injunctions for actual or threatened misappropriation. Employment conditions must rest on evidence of threatened misappropriation, rather than merely what a person knows, and the order cannot prevent entry into employment or conflict with applicable state restraint law. Those limits do not decide your contractual noncompete. 18 USC 1836: trade-secret remedies

Use the confidentiality-clause guide to organize the information duties. Do not take customer files, credentials or internal exports to prove that the new job is different. Describe missing evidence and ask counsel how to provide records lawfully.

Distinguish Washington state, DC and the federal rule

Washington state is a different jurisdiction from Washington, DC. Washington RCW 49.62.020 displays a version effective until June 30, 2027, with disclosure, consideration, annually adjusted earnings and layoff-compensation conditions. It also displays a future version voiding noncompetition covenants beginning June 30, 2027. Do not apply that future provision as though already effective on October 12, 2026. Washington RCW 49.62.020: current and future versions

Washington RCW 49.62.050 concerns Washington-based workers and certain outside-state forum or foreign-law provisions. That state-specific text does not become the rule for a Texas worker merely because an employer is in DC. Washington RCW 49.62.050: Washington-based workers

The FTC states that its Noncompete Rule is not in effect or enforceable as checked October 12, 2026. An old nationwide-ban announcement cannot substitute for reviewing this agreement. FTC Noncompete Rule status

What the official pages do not say

These authorities do not interpret your missing contract, identify an approved measurement method for every radius, or authorize this particular remote job. They do not give every Texas employee a fixed safe distance. Whether the clause reaches the proposed duties requires its actual wording and a scoped legal review.

Ask for a review tied to the real job proposal

Before accepting or changing duties, ask a Texas employment lawyer to assess the full agreement, selected law, dispute route, locations and proposed work. If you receive a demand or court papers, include the complete communication and actual dates. This guide supplies no response deadline or assurance that litigation will be inexpensive.

A request for written consent or a narrower restriction can identify a possible negotiation route. It is not a guarantee that consent will be given. Have counsel review any release, its scope and the authorized signature. Retain it with the original contract and the job description it addresses.

1. Keep the full agreement, amendments and incorporated definitions.
2. Record the reference point, measurement ambiguity and actual work sites.
3. Describe activities, customer territories and assignment changes.
4. Separate the former-employer restriction from new DC employment terms.
5. Identify special professional rules, demands and real deadlines.
6. Obtain a written, fact-specific assessment before relying on a map alone.

Frequently asked questions

Can I work from home inside ten miles for a DC company outside the circle?

The company address alone does not answer that. Review the clause’s activities and geography against the proposed role. Texas 15.50 uses a contextual reasonableness and ancillary-agreement standard, not a universal ten-mile clearance. Texas Business and Commerce Code 15.50 and 15.51

What is a reasonable distance for a Texas noncompete?

The general employee statute gives a necessity-and-reasonableness standard for geography together with time and activity. It does not set one distance for all jobs. Special professional provisions need their own review. Texas Business and Commerce Code 15.50 and 15.51

How can I get out of a noncompete in Texas?

Ask counsel about enforceability, an authorized release or narrowing the proposed role. Overbreadth may lead to reformation under the statutory conditions, rather than eliminating the restraint. Do not breach it as a test. Texas Business and Commerce Code 15.50 and 15.51

What are Texas geographic limitations?

Section 15.50(a) requires reasonable geographical limitations no greater than necessary for the protected goodwill or other business interest. Evaluate the actual area, activity and agreement together. Texas Business and Commerce Code 15.50 and 15.51

How enforceable is a noncompete in Washington state?

That is distinct from DC. The official RCW page displays current conditions and a future ban beginning June 30, 2027. Use the version effective for the date and circumstances of the dispute. Washington RCW 49.62.020: current and future versions

Does DC law cover every employee of a DC company?

No such conclusion follows from its covered-employee definition. It has work-location and compensation-classification conditions, with an anticipation test before work begins. Check those conditions separately from the old Texas agreement. DC Code 32-581.01: definitions

Does an unreasonable radius make the entire Texas restriction disappear?

Not automatically. Texas 15.51(c) requires reformation when its stated prerequisites are met, with limits on pre-reformation damages and available relief. Counsel should assess which conditions apply. Texas Business and Commerce Code 15.50 and 15.51

Sources

• Texas Business and Commerce Code 15.50 and 15.51
• DC Code 32-581.01: definitions
• DC Code 32-581.02: covered employee prohibition
• Washington RCW 49.62.020: current and future versions
• Washington RCW 49.62.050: Washington-based workers
• FTC Noncompete Rule status
• 18 USC 1836: trade-secret remedies
• Merritt Hawkins v Gresham, Fifth Circuit, June 21, 2017
• DC Department of Employment Services: 2026 noncompete public notice

Related: Check the governing-law language · Separate customer restrictions · Organize information duties