In 2015, Hawai‘i passed legislation that banned the use of noncompetes and no-recruit agreements for employees of technology businesses. Seven years later, the Hawai‘i Supreme Court decided more changes were appropriate. See what it did.
The day an employee shows up for their first day of work is often the day they learn that a noncompete is a requirement of the job. But, according to a 2015 study by Professors Evan Starr, J.J. Prescott, and Norm Bishara, providing advance notice that a noncompete will be required actually leads to 11% more training and 6.6% more job satisfaction.
The Supreme Judicial Court’s seminal 1922 case, Sherman v. Pfefferkorn, remains relevant even today, despite being partially negated by statute.
D.C. is on the verge of walking back its noncompete ban, and putting in place a $150,000 wage threshold. The change is likely to be final in the next month and take effect October 1, 2022. Are you ready? You have some time, but you won’t want to miss the deadline.
In case you were wondering what states have changed their noncompete laws in the past decade or so, we have created a list with links to more information about each of the changes.
Our 50-state (plus DC) chart of noncompete laws has been updated for recent developments. It is available here.
Illinois, Iowa, and Kentucky each created some exemptions for nurses or other healthcare workers. If you’re keeping track, that’s four states that have already updated their laws effective this year: Colorado (twice), Illinois (twice), Iowa, and Kentucky. (And, of course, D.C. is still in the works.)
The day an employee shows up for their first day of work is often the day they learn that a noncompete is a requirement of the job. But, according to a 2015 study by Professors Evan Starr, J.J. Prescott, and Norm Bishara, providing advance notice that a noncompete will be required actually leads to 11% more training and 6.6% more job satisfaction.
Eleven states now have wage thresholds or other criteria that must be satisfied before a noncompete can be used. Are your noncompetes compliant?
Newly updated criminal penalties for a violation of noncompete law are not enough for Colorado — or maybe they’re too much. Colorado has made sweeping changes to its noncompete law, while scaling back (or at least cleared up ambiguity around) potential criminal liability for using unenforceable noncompetes.
Happy 4th! After three and a half years, we are finally seeing more cases — and more judicial decisions — involving noncompetes subject to the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act (the “MNAA”), G. L. c.149 § 24L. And, we now have a third and fourth decision.
Our legal system is far from perfect. And, unfortunately, it frequently permits abuses. In the context of restrictive covenants and trade secret claims, oftentimes it’s an overly-aggressive forme...
There has been a lot of legislative, regulatory, and judicial activity around noncompetes over the past two months or so. Here is a summary.
Episode 15 of Fairly Competing is out! In this episode, John, Ben, and Russell discuss what to do when you receive a cease and desist letter, including how to prepare for it and how to respond to i...
Our updated graph of noncompete and trade secrets decisions is now available. Noncompete decisions remain level, while trade secret decisions continue to trend up.
Episode 14 of Fairly Competing is out! Join John, Ben, and Russell for a discussion with special guest Vicki Cundiff about irreparable harm in trade secret disputes.
With one month left and no agreed-upon fix to D.C.’s problematic noncompete law, the D.C. Council has voted to postpone the law’s effective date until October 1, 2022.
Over 50 percent of employees admit stealing company information when they leave for a new job. It’s this “insider threat” that keeps us up at night. To help combat it, we have updated and reissued our training, Protecting Trade Secrets While Working From Home, with improved audio and additional substance.
Ten states now have wage thresholds or other criteria that must be satisfied before a noncompete can be used. Are your noncompetes ready?
The thought of trade secrets tends to conjure up images of cloak and dagger operations, secret laboratories, the secret formula to Coca-Cola, Google’s search algorithm, and the like. But trade secre...
Legislative activity is picking up again, and therefore so are we. This year, there have been a total of 67 noncompete bills in 22 states,1 plus four pending federal noncompete bills and a bill t...
As you will recall, 37 states — i.e., more than 3/4 of all states — have been taking a hard look at their noncompete laws in the past several years, with 24 states, plus D.C., making changes....
You hired someone from a competitor. You’re excited. They’re excited. But you may have bought yourself a lawsuit. Can you avoid it? Maybe.