820 ILCS 90/5

(820 ILCS 90/5)

Sec. 5. Definitions. In this Act:

"Adequate consideration" means (1) the employee worked for the employer for at least 2 years after the employee signed an agreement containing a covenant not to compete or a covenant not to solicit or (2) the employer otherwise provided consideration adequate to support an agreement to not compete or to not solicit, which consideration can consist of a period of employment plus additional professional or financial benefits or merely professional or financial benefits adequate by themselves.

"Covenant not to compete" means an agreement between an employer and an employee that is entered into after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly that restricts the employee from performing:

(1) any work for another employer for a specified period of time;

(2) any work in a specified geographical area; or

(3) work for another employer that is similar to employee's work for the employer included as a party to the agreement.

"Covenant not to compete" also means an agreement between an employer and an employee, entered into after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, that by its terms imposes adverse financial consequences on the former employee if the employee engages in competitive activities after the termination of the employee's employment with the employer.

"Covenant not to compete" does not include (1) a covenant not to solicit, (2) a confidentiality agreement or covenant, (3) a covenant or agreement prohibiting use or disclosure of trade secrets or inventions, (4) invention assignment agreements or covenants, (5) a covenant or agreement entered into by a person purchasing or selling the goodwill of a business or otherwise acquiring or disposing of an ownership interest, (6) clauses or an agreement between an employer and an employee requiring advance notice of termination of employment, during which notice period the employee remains employed by the employer and receives compensation, or (7) agreements by which the employee agrees not to reapply for employment to the same employer after termination of the employee.

"Covenant not to solicit" means an agreement that is entered into after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly between an employer and an employee that (1) restricts the employee from soliciting for employment the employer's employees or (2) restricts the employee from soliciting, for the purpose of selling products or services of any kind to, or from interfering with the employer's relationships with, the employer's clients, prospective clients, vendors, prospective vendors, suppliers, prospective suppliers, or other business relationships.

"Earnings" means the compensation, including earned salary, earned bonuses, earned commissions, or any other form of taxable compensation, reflected or that is expected to be reflected as wages, tips, and other compensation on the employee's IRS Form W-2 plus any elective deferrals not reflected as wages, tips, and other compensation on the employee's IRS Form W-2, such as, without limitation, employee contributions to a 401(k) plan, a 403(b) plan, a flexible spending account, or a health savings account, or commuter benefit-related deductions.

"Employee" means any individual permitted to work by an employer in an occupation.

"Employer" has the meaning given to such term in subsection (c) of Section 3 of the Minimum Wage Law. "Employer" does not include governmental or quasi-governmental bodies.

"Construction" means any constructing, altering, reconstructing, repairing, rehabilitating, refinishing, refurbishing, remodeling, remediating, renovating, custom fabricating, maintenance, landscaping, improving, wrecking, painting, decorating, demolishing, and adding to or subtracting from any building, structure, highway, roadway, street, bridge, alley, sewer, ditch, sewage disposal plant, water works, parking facility, railroad, excavation or other structure, project, development, real property or improvement, or to do any part thereof, whether or not the performance of the work herein described involves the addition to, or fabrication into, any structure, project, development, real property or improvement herein described of any material or article of merchandise.

(Source: P.A. 102-358, eff. 1-1-22.)