No sooner did the Ferguson-led FTC announce its first enforcement action and proposed consent order, than it issued a request for information about companies’ use of noncompetes.
The full text of the FTC’s press release is as follows:
Federal Trade Commission Issues Request for Information on Employee Noncompete Agreements
Today the Federal Trade Commission launched a public inquiry to better understand the scope, prevalence, and effects of employer noncompete agreements, as well as to gather information to inform possible future enforcement actions.
A noncompete agreement is a contractual term between an employer and a worker that typically blocks the worker from working for a competing employer or starting a competing business after the end of the worker’s employment. While noncompete agreements can serve valid purposes in some circumstances, available evidence indicates that they are often subject to abuse.
Members of the public including current and former employees restricted by noncompete agreements, and employers facing hiring difficulties due to a rival’s noncompete agreements, are encouraged to share information about the use of noncompete agreements.
“We are asking the public to help shine a light on unfair and anticompetitive agreements,” said Kelse Moen, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Competition and co-chair of the agency’s Joint Labor Task Force. “Unreasonable noncompete agreements have proliferated for too long in the dark. With the assistance of the employees and workers most burdened by them, the Trump-Vance FTC intends to uproot the worst offenders and restore fairness to the American labor market. We look forward to closely reviewing every response.”
The public will have 60 days to submit comments at Regulations.gov, no later than November 3, 2025. Once submitted, comments will be posted to Regulations.gov. Individuals wishing to submit confidential, non-public comments should reference the alternative submission guidelines in the RFI.
The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and to protect and educate consumers. The FTC will never demand money, make threats, tell you to transfer money, or promise you a prize. You can learn more about how competition benefits consumers, file an antitrust complaint, or comment on a proposed merger. For the latest news and resources, follow the FTC on social media, subscribe to press releases, and read our blog.
Contact Information
Media Contact
Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2446
The actual Request for Information Regarding Employer Noncompete Agreements (stripped of its lengthy introduction) is asking for the following:
. . . Commission staff seeks to understand which specific employers continue to impose noncompete agreements. Commission staff encourages members of the public, including current and former employees restricted by noncompete agreements, employers facing hiring difficulties due to a rival’s noncompete agreements, and market participants in the healthcare sector in particular, to share information about the use of noncompete agreements. . . .
FTC staff welcomes any relevant information, including responses to any of the following questions:
1. What is the name of any employer currently known to you to be using employee noncompete agreements?
2. What reason, if any, has the employer given for using noncompete agreements?
3. For what roles, positions, or job functions does the employer use noncompete agreements?
4. What are the typical salary ranges of the roles or positions subject to noncompete agreements?
5. What are the terms or limitations of the noncompete agreements (such as the duration or geographic scope)?
6. Does the employer enforce the noncompete agreements? If so, how?
7. Do the noncompete agreements harm current or former employees who take, consider taking, or would like to take new jobs? If so, how?
a. Are you aware of current employees avoiding seeking or turning down new job opportunities because of the noncompete agreements? Can you provide examples?
b. Are you aware of former employees covered by the noncompete agreements taking a new job with lower pay or worse conditions to avoid violating the terms of those agreements? Can you provide examples?
c. Are you aware of former employees covered by the noncompete agreements leaving the industry or changing their job type when taking a new job in order to avoid violating the terms of those agreements? Did that person have significant skill or knowledge in the previous job that is not applicable in the new job? Can you provide examples?
d. Are you aware of former employees moving residences, commuting significant distances, or incurring other costs to take a new job and avoid violating the terms of the noncompete agreements? Can you provide examples?
e. Are you aware of former employees taking a new job and then incurring legal costs to deal with the former employer’s attempts to enforce the noncompete agreements? Can you provide examples?
8. Do the noncompete agreements limit employees from starting or operating their own businesses? If so, how?
a. Have you or others you know decided not to start their own businesses to avoid violating the noncompete agreements?
b. Are you aware of business owners limiting the geographic territory in which they operate to avoid violating the noncompete agreements with former employers? Can you provide examples?
c. Are you aware of business owners limiting the types of services they offer to avoid violating the noncompete agreements with former employers? Can you provide examples?
d. Are you aware of business owners incurring legal costs to deal with the former employer’s attempts to enforce the noncompete agreements? Can you provide examples?
9. Do the noncompete agreements make it more difficult for rival employers to hire employees? If so, how?
a. Are you aware of a shortage of workers of the type covered by the noncompete agreements? Can you provide examples?
b. Are you aware of rival employers making job offers that were declined due to the potential employee learning that they are restricted by a noncompete? Can you provide examples?
c. Are you aware of rival employers incurring legal costs to deal with the noncompete agreements when hiring or seeking to hire workers from the employer? Can you provide examples?
d. Are you aware of rival employers struggling to compete or going out of business due to hiring difficulties or costs associated with the noncompete agreements? Can you provide examples?
10. Do the noncompete agreements contribute to a loss in innovation? If so, how?
11. Are you aware of the employer using non-solicitation or non-recruitment agreements that limit former employees from working with the employer’s former customers or former employees? Can you provide examples?
12. Have any noncompete agreements covering workers in the healthcare sector affected wages, labor mobility, or the availability, quality, or cost of healthcare services in particular? If so, how?
13. Have any noncompete agreements made it more difficult for providers of healthcare services to hire physicians, nurses, or other professionals? If so, how?
a. Has the provision of or the competition within any specific healthcare service in a geographic area been substantially affected by noncompete agreements? Can you provide examples?
Responses need not address all of the questions above and may include any additional information that may be relevant to FTC staff’s analysis of noncompete agreements.
If you would like to submit a response to this specific Request for Information, then Commission staff requests that you submit no later than November 3, 2025 by 11:59pm ET.
Instructively, asking employees to snitch on their employers (or former employers) is a bit of a repeat of the prior-administration’s approach.
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Firm resources:
We know how hard it is to keep up with the ever-changing laws and requirements around the country for how you can protect your trade secrets, customer goodwill, and the integrity of your workforce. To help, we have created the resources below (available for free). Each chart is regularly updated to reflect the latest developments.
 | 50-State Noncompete Law Chart, the first of its kind and regularly updated (downloadable PDF) (to be updated for the new exemptions in Illinois and Pennsylvania)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) |
 | Chart of Noncompete “Low-Wage” Thresholds and Criteria (downloadable) |
 | Notice requirements summary chart, providing details for each of the 8 states (plus D.C.) that has notice requirements related to noncompetes (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 |
 | Trade secret and other legitimate business interest protection plan strategy and checklist |
We hope you find all of these resources useful. More will be coming.
And please note, we are grateful for all of the input we’ve received over the years. We welcome any suggestions for improvements that you may be willing to share.
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*A huge thank you to Erika Hahn for pulling all of the FTC papers today.