Oklahoma does not publish a statutory notice ladder for an individual employee. A counsel who resigns owes the notice written in the employment agreement, the offer letter, or the bonus plan that conditions a payout on a garden period. The start date is built from the clause the candidate actually signed at the current employer. That is why an 11-week median to an accepted offer, on the firm general counsel clock and on the New York in-house envelope, is not the date the person can advise in Oklahoma City.
The wage statute times the last paycheck. Section 165.3(A) of Title 40 says that whenever employment terminates, the employer shall pay wages in full, less offsets and less any amount in bona fide disagreement, at the next regular designated payday for the pay period in which the work was performed, through the regular channel or by certified mail if the employee asks. The Oklahoma Department of Labor's wage-and-hour FAQ states that this next-payday rule applies whether the person quit or was fired, and that Oklahoma has no mandatory severance-pay law. Subsection B adds liquidated damages of 2 percent of the unpaid wages for each day a willful failure continues with no bona fide disagreement, capped at the unpaid wages.
Restrictive covenants split into a statute for employees and a rule for lawyers, and they are not the same paper. Title 15, section 219A, added by Laws 2001, chapter 406, section 4, and emergency-effective 4 June 2001, says a person who agrees not to compete after the employment ends shall still be permitted to engage in the same business or a similar business, so long as that person does not directly solicit the sale of goods, services, or both from the established customers of the former employer. Subsection B says any contract provision in conflict with that section is void and unenforceable. Senate Bill 1543 of 2024 would have amended the section to reach indirect solicitation. The legislature's history records a veto on 30 April 2024. The broader text did not take effect. A noncompete that bars an Oklahoma City counsel from working for another energy company, or another software company, is the provision subsection B addresses. A clause limited to direct solicitation of established customers is the residue the statute leaves.
Rule 5.6 is the second screen, and it binds the lawyer who offers or signs the paper. As amended by 2007 OK 22, effective 1 January 2008, a lawyer shall not participate in offering or making an employment agreement that restricts the right of a lawyer to practice after the relationship ends, except an agreement concerning benefits upon retirement. A customer non-solicit that section 219A would leave standing can still be the agreement Rule 5.6 puts in front of the deputy who is asked to sign it, and in front of the general counsel who is asked to send it.
Oklahoma does not hand a new hire a limited in-house license. Rule 5.5(d), amended by 2019 OK 72 and effective 12 November 2019, allows a lawyer admitted in a reciprocal United States jurisdiction, and not disbarred or suspended, to provide legal services here if the lawyer also complies with Rule 2, Section 5. Paragraph (d)(1) covers the employer and its affiliates, on the employer's matters, when the employer does not sell legal services to third persons and the matter does not require pro hac vice. Comment 16 excludes personal advice to officers and employees. Comment 17 says an office may bring registration, client-protection, and continuing-legal-education duties.
On 6 February 2023, in 2023 OK 10, the court rewrote Rule 2. Section 5 is now a special temporary permit for the spouse of a uniformed-service member, not a house-counsel registration. Section 6 keeps permits granted before 1 December 2021 on their old terms and says they cannot be renewed. A permit from a prior employer does not travel to Paycom, OGE, or Continental.
A new Oklahoma City office uses Rule 2, Section 1 of that 2023 order: an American Bar Association-approved degree, active standing in a reciprocal state, and three of the five years immediately before the application. In-house years count when they followed admission in that reciprocal state and the primary duties were counsel, drafting, advice, or work before courts or agencies. Years in a nonreciprocal state do not count and cannot be combined to reach three of five. A Uniform Bar Examination score lower than 264 within three years blocks the motion. Stricter rules in the other state govern.
The Board of Bar Examiners' FAQ includes Texas and New York and does not include California, Delaware, or Florida. A California-only admission is the examination, which that FAQ says is given in Oklahoma City only, or a score transfer if the score qualifies. The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination scaled score is 80, valid without a time limit unless the other jurisdiction is stricter. The Oklahoma Bar Association's out-of-state registration, a $350 fee plus a motion by local counsel, is for one proceeding. It is not a general-counsel license. A courtroom seat needs a member. Rule 5.5(d)(1) excludes pro hac vice matters and does not fill them.
