Minnesota is set to join the ranks of California, North Dakota, and Oklahoma as the fourth state with a complete ban on employee noncompetes. Will you be ready?
Education comes at a price. But not this time. Beck Reed Riden is making available its Ten Minute Trade Secret Training Series videos freely available - and available for free. With the FTC rule banning noncompetes on the horizon and more states limiting the use of noncompetes, it is now more imperative than ever before that companies and employees take steps to protect their trade secrets, other confidential information, and customer relationships.
Once again, we have resounding unanimity on the issues and recommendations to the FTC, as they consider whether to move forward with their plan to ban noncompetes, as well as some nondisclosure agreements and other restrictive covenants. Over 100 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.
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. Eight states plus D.C. now have some requirements. Make sure you are complying.
Although five noncompete bills were pending before the Massachusetts legislature this year, none has passed.
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 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.
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.
There has been a lot of legislative, regulatory, and judicial activity around noncompetes over the past two months or so. Here is a summary.
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....
As noted in our post, Ask 70 Trade Secret Lawyers and Paralegals about Noncompetes and Get One Opinion, the FTC and DOJ encouraged the submission of public comments following the “Making Competiti...
Happy holidays! Episode 13 of Fairly Competing is out! In this episode, John, Ben, and Russell take a look back on some of the more significant developments in trade secret and restrictive coven...
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.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) just completed their second workshop on competition.[1] Noncompetes are again squarely in the crosshairs. Here is what you need to know and what you need to do.
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.
“Non-compete agreements that are unreasonable as to temporal length, subject matter, and/or geographic scope will be found to violate both federal and state antitrust laws.”
That’s new — especially because it’s from Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Christine Wilson.
But, at the end, Commissioner Wilson observed, “The elected officials in each state are best situated to weigh the costs and benefits of non-competes and make decisions tailored to the unique circumstances in their jurisdictions. . . . A federal solution at this time is premature.”
That’s new — especially because it’s from Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Christine Wilson.
But, at the end, Commissioner Wilson observed, “The elected officials in each state are best situated to weigh the costs and benefits of non-competes and make decisions tailored to the unique circumstances in their jurisdictions. . . . A federal solution at this time is premature.”
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.
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.
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...
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.