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.
Once again, we have resounding unanimity on the issues and recommendations to the FTC and DOJ, as they consider whether to regulate (and if so, how) noncompetes, nondisclosure agreements, and other restrictive covenants. 70 lawyers who practice extensively in the area of trade secret and restrictive covenant law agree: federal regulation is likely inappropriate, definitely premature, and, in any event, should be limited.
Were you wondering where Wyoming stands on a potential noncompete ban? You won’t find it on the legislature’s website or Legiscan. But, as it turns out, Wyoming is considering a ban, as well as a more limited restriction.
As we look at recent developments in noncompete regulatory efforts at the state and federal levels, it’s good to have a quick reminder of how we got here. We’ll take a quick tour of noncompete regulation from the Middle Ages to now.
The ULC officially released the Uniform Restrictive Employment Agreement Act. A tremendous amount of work went into developing it. Take a read and see what you think.
As regular readers of this blog know, I focus on providing content and rarely suggest educational programs to attend. However, given that CLE programs are still remote and can be hard to identify, I t...
About twice a year, I update my chart of reported noncompete and trade secrets decisions. The results continue the trend: While noncompete litigation appears to have largely leveled off over the last 15-plus years, trade secret litigation continues to reflect an overall upward trajectory.
A recent paper, “The Ethics of Noncompete Clauses,” by University of Georgia Professor Harrison Frye, expands the policy discussion around noncompetes, and argues for a more thoughtful analysis. As Professor Frye details, seeing noncompetes “as solely advancing the interests of employers is myopic.”
If you’ve been following along with this series of posts, you know that there have been 66 noncompete bills pending in 25 states this year — plus three pending federal noncompete bills, D.C.’s new law to ban most noncompetes, and a bill to rein in D.C’s new law before it becomes effective (which is anticipated to be in April 2022). Today’s post discusses New Jersey’s proposed noncompete legislation.
Misconceptions about noncompetes abound. And, as noncompete agreements are increasingly in the cross-hairs of the media and legislators, it has become increasingly clear that some of the most vocal de...
Ask two lawyers for their opinion and you’ll get three opinions. But I asked almost 60 lawyers (and paralegals) and got only one opinion — consistent with the last time, when I asked 21 lawyer...
On Thursday, July 15, 2021, United States District Court Judge Hillman issued what I believe is the first (readily available, anyway) non-dicta, substantive decision on the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act (the MNAA). Read more about Judge Hillman dismissal of a claim based on a nonconforming noncompete in KPM Analytics North America Corporation v. Blue Sun Scientific, LLC (C.A. No. 4:21-cv-10572-TSH).
The D.C. Council held two proceedings related to its recent noncompete ban last week. During both, at-Large Councilmember Elisa Silverman recommended pushing back the implementation date of the new law to April 1, 2022. During the hearing, the Council received wide-ranging testimony about a potential amendment: some objective, verifiable input and some partisan rhetoric; some spot on and some inaccurate. Now we wait.
The updates keep coming, but the information does not — well, at least not quickly. President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy is now available, but references noncompetes in only two quick sentences throughout the 46 pages. Those two sentences provide only a bit more guidance.
This afternoon, President Biden signed an “Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” which included pushing for the regulation of noncompetes by the FTC. Based on his comments during today’s press conference (discussed in the post), we expect that any regulation will be balanced, focusing on regulating the abuses, rather than a throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater wholesale ban.
President Biden had said that he “will work with Congress to eliminate all non-compete agreements, except the very few that are absolutely necessary to protect a narrowly defined category of trade secrets.” However, he has now announced that he will issue an executive order pushing for the limitation or elimination of noncompetes.
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.
Over the past several years, there have been changes to the noncompete laws in 24 states — plus D.C. In some states (such as Illinois, Oregon, and Nevada), there were even multiple changes to the law over the last few years.
To keep track of it all, we’ve prepared a map as a visual supplement to our Changing Trade Secrets | Noncompete Laws page.
To keep track of it all, we’ve prepared a map as a visual supplement to our Changing Trade Secrets | Noncompete Laws page.
Our 50-state (plus DC) chart of noncompete laws has been updated for Illinois’ and Nevada’s recent amendments to their noncompete laws. It is available here.
Nevada too has modified its noncompete law. Effective October 1, 2021, among other things, noncompetes cannot be used for hourly workers and employers will be at risk of paying attorney’s fees for violating certain aspects of the law.
Two new noncompete laws in the past week or so: Illinois and Nevada. Discussed below, Illinois will have a completely overhauled noncompete law starting in January 2022 and Nevada will have tweaks to its law starting in October of this year.
Our 50-State (plus DC) chart of noncompete laws has been updated for Oregon’s recent amendment. It is available here.