If you’re curious to see the text of the proposed federal noncompete bills, you can start with the Ensure Vaccine Mandates Eliminate Non-Competes Act, which is now available. And, Rhode Island proposed a total ban of all noncompetes.
The FTC’s noncompete ban is mentioned in President Biden’s State of the Union. Not surprisingly, we’ve fact-checked it.
A new federal bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to ban noncompetes — both retroactively and prospectively — for nonexempt workers.
While most people reading this blog will know that California has a statute that bans noncompetes, it may come as a surprise that employers have dealt with that prohibition by turning to trade secret law for protection as far back as 1913 — even for low-level employees.
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.
The FTC's and DOJ’s December 6 and 7 Virtual Public Workshop Exploring Competition in Labor Markets is almost here, and the agenda has been released. While it’s quite possible that noncompete...
As we await the FTC and DOJ’s December 6 and 7 Virtual Public Workshop Exploring Competition in Labor Markets, it’s important to know that on November 12, the FTC posted a draft Strategic Plan fo...
The FTC and DOJ will be hosting a two-day workshop on December 6 and 7 covering, among other things, the use of noncompetes and NDAs.
As of Friday (July 16, 2021), we again have competing approaches to federal legislation proposing limits on noncompetes. In addition to the previously reintroduced Workforce Mobility Act, proposing an outright ban, Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) have now reintroduced the Freedom to Compete Act to ban noncompetes for most workers who are not exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
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.
*This post was originally published by Erika Hahn and me on Law360 under the title, “Noncompete Misconceptions May Be Inhibiting Reform.” Federalism is alive and well. For about 200 ye...