On July 3, 2024, as anticipated, U.S. District Judge Ada Brown of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted Plaintiffs’ and Plaintiff-Intervenors’ motion to stay and preliminarily enjoin the effective...more
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its final rule prohibiting all non-compete agreements for all employees at all levels, with only extremely limited exceptions. The FTC’s much-anticipated action...more
Maine Governor Janet Mills has vetoed legislation that would have severely restricted the contexts in which Maine employers could use and enforce non-compete agreements. The bill, LD 1496, would have significantly hampered...more
In October 2023, California’s Governor signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1076 which added the new Business & Professions Code §16600.1, making it unlawful to impose non-compete clauses on employees – which contractual restrictions...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed a paradigm-breaking rule that would ban essentially all non-compete agreements. If enacted, this rule would purport to override tens of millions of contracts in every sector of...more
2/8/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Contract ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Joe Biden ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Popular ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unfair Competition
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators has reintroduced a bill, dubbed the “Workforce Mobility Act of 2023,” that would largely ban the use of employer non-compete agreements nationwide as a matter of federal law. This follows...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a new rule that, if made final, would (at least on its face) effectively prohibit non-compete agreements other than in very limited circumstances....more
1/11/2023
/ Confidential Information ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Functionality ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Notice Requirements ,
OIRA ,
OMB ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rescission ,
Section 5 ,
Unfair Competition
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) hosted a virtual workshop on December 6-7, 2021, bringing together agency representatives, lawyers, economists, academics, and other experts to discuss...more
12/23/2021
/ Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Contract ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joe Biden ,
NLRA ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Sherman Act ,
Trade Secrets ,
Unfair Competition
The District of Columbia appears poised to join the growing number of nearby states regulating and limiting restrictive covenant agreements in the employment context...more
The use of non-competition agreements between employers and employees has raised concerns at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). On January 9, 2020, the agency held a program “to examine whether there is a sufficient legal...more
Restrictive covenant matters rarely make it through the appellate courts. This is true for a number of reasons, including the fact that the time-sensitive nature of restrictive covenant litigation often compels parties to...more
On August 26, 2019, the Delaware Chancery Court invalidated a California employee’s customer and employee non-solicitation covenant on the grounds that it violated California law. In doing so, the Court rejected the plaintiff...more
The New Jersey Appellate Division has clarified the analysis required to determine the effect of restrictive covenant agreements (RCAs) and offered guidance to practitioners drafting RCAs under New Jersey law in a decision on...more
The Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act (Non-Compete Act) has yet to be tested, but its venue provision likely will come under special scrutiny. The venue provision governs the geographical location and forum in which...more
After enacting its non-compete law on April 7, 2016, Utah has twice amended the law to address additional restrictions on non-competes in the broadcasting industry. Governor Gary Herbert signed the second of those amended...more
Last year, Democrats in the United States Senate and House of Representatives introduced bills — S.2782 and H.R.5631 — banning non-compete agreements in the vast majority of workplaces across the country. Although those...more
When implementing restrictive covenant agreements in their workforces, companies often grapple with how best to handle the wide variation in the law from one state to the other. One solution is to include a choice of law...more
Just before midnight on July 31, 2018, the last day of its legislative session, the Massachusetts Legislature passed a significant bill regulating the use of non-compete agreements in the Commonwealth. On August 10, 2018,...more
The Massachusetts Legislature, at long last, has passed a bill regulating the use and enforcement of non-compete agreements in the private sector. Once “An Act relative to the judicial enforcement of noncompetition...more
In the past week, two states have made modifications to their respective non-compete laws. On March 27, 2018, Utah imposed special restrictions on the use of non-compete agreements in the broadcasting industry. One day...more
Proposals to restrict the use of non-compete agreements in employment have been introduced in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
This appears to be the continuation of a trend that started nearly a year ago. On...more
“State Call to Action on Non-Compete Agreements” is the White House’s latest in a series of Executive Branch missives decrying the purported misuse of non-competition agreements by employers across the country....more