Are Non-Competes Enforceable for Dentists and Dental Staff in District of Columbia?

District of Columbia law sorts your team by compensation first, and the two sides of the line live under different rules:

• Under $162,164 a year (as of January 1, 2026): no non-compete at all. Since October 1, 2022, D.C. employers may not require or even request that a covered employee — one who is not highly compensated — sign a non-compete, and a provision in an agreement entered on or after that date is void.
• At or above the line: allowed, but boxed in. A covenant with a highly compensated employee, in an agreement signed on or after October 1, 2022, must state its functional scope and geographic limits, run no longer than 365 days after separation, and be given in writing at least 14 days before employment starts or before the employee must sign it.
• Dentists use the general track — the longer, higher-paid specialist category is for physicians.
• Other protections stay open: otherwise-lawful confidentiality and proprietary-information terms, and a seller's covenant in a practice sale, sit outside the ban's definition.

Federally there is nothing to fall back on: the FTC's non-compete rule was set aside in court and never took effect, and the FTC removed it from the Code of Federal Regulations in February 2026.

The national picture is in our guide to non-competes for dental staff nationally.

The D.C. ban comes from a statute, not a court doctrine.

It sits at D.C. Code § 32-581.02: since October 1, 2022, no employer may require or request that a covered employee sign an agreement — or comply with a workplace policy — that includes a non-compete provision, and provisions in agreements entered on or after that date are void.

Coverage turns on where the employee's time is spent and where their employment is based.

The law reaches an employee who spends more than 50% of work time for the employer working in the District, or whose employment is based in D.C. and who regularly spends substantial time there while spending not more than 50% of it in another jurisdiction.

The penalties aim at employers: you may not retaliate against a covered employee for refusing to sign, or for asking or complaining about, a prohibited non-compete — that is § 32-581.02(b).

Attempting to enforce a void non-compete leaves you owing each affected employee at least $1,500, and the Mayor may assess administrative penalties of $350 to $1,000 per violation.

How the statute applies to a specific agreement is a question for D.C. employment counsel.

D.C.'s statute defines a medical specialist category, and dentists are not in it.

Qualifying requires a license to practice medicine, physician status and a completed medical residency — an associate dentist is licensed to practice dentistry, not medicine.

Your practice is therefore on the general rules: the $162,164 threshold (2026) decides coverage, any covenant above it is capped at 365 days, and the 730-day specialist cap and $270,274 specialist threshold never enter the math.

Hygienists, assistants and front-office staff sit in the same general track: for each of them the compensation test — not the profession — decides the question, so check every offer against the current threshold before you put a covenant in the packet.

If you are reading this as the clinician rather than the owner, our national guide to dentist non-compete agreements covers the worker's side of these clauses.

In the District, the conditions are in the statute itself.

For a highly compensated employee, under agreements signed on or after October 1, 2022, a non-compete must clear every box:

• Scope and area, stated. The provision must specify its functional scope and its geographic limits — a bare promise not to compete is not enough.
• Time capped at 365 days. The term may not exceed 365 calendar days from separation; 730 days applies only to medical specialists, which excludes dentists.
• Delivered early, in writing. The covenant must be given to the employee in writing at least 14 days before employment starts or before the employee must sign it.

Treat these as drafting requirements, and check the employee's actual compensation — not the job title — to see which regime applies.

The definition does the work here.

D.C.'s statute excludes from "non-compete provision" any otherwise lawful provision that bars disclosing or using the employer's confidential or proprietary information — and "proprietary employer information" is defined to include customer lists, client lists, and trade secrets: the lane the law leaves open for protecting what your practice knows.

How far that stretches over a specific patient or recall list is a drafting question for your employment attorney.

The evidence behind this page does not establish how D.C. treats a standalone patient or employee non-solicit, so have counsel review the exact clause before relying on one; for how these agreements are structured, see our guide to patient and staff non-solicits.

• Check every offer against the current line. If your template still shows $150,000, that figure is no longer current — the 2026 threshold is $162,164, with $270,274 for medical specialists.
• Under the line, drop the clause. You cannot require or even request a non-compete from a covered employee, and the provision is void from the start.
• Above the line, draft to the statute: stated scope and geography, no more than 365 days, delivered in writing at least 14 days out.
• Protect the information instead. Otherwise-lawful confidentiality and proprietary-information terms sit outside the ban — make them the load-bearing provisions.
• Selling the practice is different. A seller's covenant made in or alongside the sale of the business is excluded from the ban, so a buyer can still ask a selling dentist to stay away.
• Use repayment where it fits. Where you fund genuine outside training, a repayment term is a separate tool — our guide to training repayment agreements covers how they work and where they run into trouble.

Have a D.C. employment attorney review the final form before anyone signs — thresholds update, and the gap between void and enforceable is measured in the penalties above.