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Articles Posted in Trade Secrets
It’s official. The feds plan to ban most employee noncompetes. But is this fire or smoke?
In January 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a rule generally prohibiting employers from imposing noncompetes on their workers. In the following year and change, the federal agency received more than 26,000 comments on the proposed rule, with over 25,000 comments supporting the FTC’s proposed ban on noncompetes.
Yesterday, the FTC voted 3-2 in favor of a final Noncompete Rule imposing a comprehensive ban on new noncompetes with all workers, including senior executives. Continue reading
Next week, the feds will vote on whether to ban most noncompetes
Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it would hold a “special open Commission meeting” on April 23 to vote on whether to issue a proposed final rule that would prevent most employers from enforcing noncompetes against workers. Continue reading
What’s the worst that could happen to a former employee who hacks your network and lies to the feds about it?
Well, I don’t know if it’s the worst, but getting sentenced to 24 months in prison for a network intrusion and making false statements to a government agency sounds pretty bad. Continue reading
Noncompetition Agreements and Restrictive Covenants in New York
In June, the New York Senate approved this bill prohibiting noncompetition agreements and certain restrictive covenants. I wrote that the days of noncompetition agreements in New York “are as limited as the Knicks’ chances of winning another NBA title.”
Oops. Continue reading
New York is inching closer to banning non-competes
In January, the Federal Trade Commission proposed eradicating most non-competition agreements. Last month, while the National Labor Relations Board doubled down on efforts to eliminate these restrictive covenants, the State of Minnesota voted to eliminate them starting in July.
Now New York is poised to become the fifth state to ban noncompetes. Continue reading
The Labor Board’s top attorney wants to void non-competes that violate labor law. Hot take: meh.
Yesterday, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memo claiming that the “proffer, maintenance, and enforcement non-compete provisions in employment contracts and severance agreements violate the National Labor Relations Act except in limited circumstances.”
Other labor and employment lawyers may forebode the end for most non-competes.
Me? I ain’t scared. Continue reading
Choose your words carefully when using noncompetition agreements
Many courts are generally reluctant to enforce noncompetes. And sometimes employers make their tasks even easier.
You may have an overly-broad UNENFORCEABLE restrictive covenant NOT TO COMPETE if…
As we wait patiently for the comment period on the Federal Trade Commission’s proposal to ban employers from imposing non-competes to close next month, I’m here to tell you now that your business’s non-competition agreements may be dead on arrival anyway.
I’ll explain why. Continue reading