The year would not be complete without a decision from New York Governor Kathy Hochul on the proposed noncompete ban.
The Governor has rejected and will veto the extreme approach proposed by the New York Legislature, despite the urging from the Federal Trade Commission.
The big news is that New York will not be the fifth state with a wholesale ban on employee noncompetes.1
New York’s Governor Hochul is neither persuaded by nor hiding behind the rhetoric and political expediency of a ban of noncompetes.
Instead, as predicted, she is sticking by what she said all along: Insulate low-wage and middle-wage workers from noncompetes to protect their mobility, but recognize that noncompetes serve legitimate business purposes and can still be used for others.
But she and the Legislature were unable to find an acceptable compromise.
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We know how hard it is to keep up with the ever-changing requirements around the country. To help, we have created the following resources (available for free):
- 50-State Noncompete Law Chart, the first of its kind and regularly updated (downloadable PDF);
- Chart of Noncompete “Low-Wage” Thresholds and Criteria (2023) (downloadable – note that some of the thresholds will be increasing and will included in a final updated chart in January);
- Notice requirements summary chart, providing details for each of the 8 states (plus D.C.) that has notice requirements related to noncompetes (downloadable PDF);
- 50-State and Federal Trade Secret Law Chart, providing a comparison of the trade secrets laws nationally to the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (downloadable PDF).
- “Changing Trade Secrets | Noncompete Laws” (dedicated blog page) now provides a current detailed summary of the changing landscape of trade secret laws and noncompete laws around the country, state by state and at the federal level; and
- Ten Minute Trade Secret Training Series, currently with three training videos and one “basics” video:
We hope you find all of these resources useful.
And please know that we are grateful for all of the input we’ve received over the years, and welcome any suggestions for improvements that you may be willing to share.
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[1] Those states are California, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Oklahoma. Nebraska says noncompetes are permitted, but true noncompetes are rare.
*Thank you to Erika Hahn for her extraordinary work helping me stay on top of all of the pending noncompete legislation around the country.