On April 24, 2025, the Florida Legislature passed legislation to create two new forms of noncompetes for employers and businesses: a covered garden leave provision and a provision limiting noncompetes to a specific geographic...more
The federal government has filed motions to stay two ongoing appeals of rulings that blocked the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) rule banning noncompete agreements....more
On February 26, 2025, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson directed the agency to form a new “Joint Labor Task Force” that will focus on enforcing federal antitrust laws to protect competition in labor...more
In a significant development for employers that use restrictive covenant agreements, on February 14, 2025, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Acting General Counsel (GC) William B. Cowen rescinded prior NLRB GC memoranda,...more
In 2021, LKQ Corporation (LKQ) filed suit against Robert Rutledge, its former plant manager, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. LKQ alleged that Rutledge’s working for a competitor within nine...more
2/6/2025
/ Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Delaware ,
Employment Litigation ,
Enforceability ,
Forfeiture ,
Illinois ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Qualified Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) ,
Restricted Stocks ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unjust Enrichment
Less than a week before the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division jointly published guidelines on assessing whether business...more
1/27/2025
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Franchises ,
Joint Policy Statements ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Trump Administration
In another post-McLaren Macomb challenge to common employer/employee agreements, on October 7, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) general counsel (GC) issued a memorandum warning employers that the GC views...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is appealing a Florida federal court ruling temporarily blocking the FTC’s noncompete ban a month after a Texas federal judge in a separate case blocked the FTC’s ban on a nationwide basis....more
On July 3, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted a preliminary injunction staying enforcement of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) final rule prohibiting noncompetition employment...more
On May 7, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a final rule that effectively bans all non-compete agreements between employers and “workers” as “unfair method[s] of competition” and requires employers to refrain...more
5/28/2024
/ Corporate Executives ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Former Employee ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Notice Requirements ,
Popular ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unfair Competition
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) adopted a final rule that effectively prohibits the use of almost all non-compete clauses....more
On April 16, 2024, more than fifteen months after issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking that would ban noncompetes and nearly a year after the comment period closed, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it was...more
On March 21, 2024, the FDIC unveiled proposed revisions to its Statement of Policy (SOP) on Bank Merger Transactions, which was last amended in 2008. The revisions would increase scrutiny of bank mergers, particularly mergers...more
4/3/2024
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Bank Merger Act ,
Comment Period ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Merger Reviews ,
Mergers ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
OCC ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Regulatory Approval
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel (GC) issued a memorandum on May 30, 2023, declaring her opinion that the “proffer, maintenance, and enforcement” of noncompete agreements in employment contracts and...more
On January 5, 2023, nearly eighteen months after President Biden signed an executive order directing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair to “consider working with the rest of the Commission to exercise the FTC’s...more
With little press coverage, Illinois just amended the Nurse Agency Licensing Act (House Bill (HB) 4666) to prohibit noncompete agreements between nurse staffing agencies and nurses or certified nursing assistants...more
On August 13, 2021, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 672, an amendment to the Illinois Freedom to Work Act. While the law codifies substantive Illinois common law on restrictive covenants, it...more
The Illinois General Assembly recently approved House of Representatives Amendment 1 to Senate Bill (SB) 672, which would significantly reform noncompete and nonsolicitation law in Illinois. The bill will now go to Governor...more
In 2016, Illinois enacted the Illinois Freedom to Work Act (IFWA). In doing so, it became one of the first states to pass legislation in response to the Obama administration’s Call to Action, which asked states to amend their...more
Several amendments to the Illinois Day and Temporary Labor Services Act will become effective June 1, 2018. Staffing agencies (also known as “suppliers”) and user employers (“users”) are finding that some of the law’s...more
Illinois’s Responsible Job Creation Act, which will become effective June 1, 2018, amends the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act with the goal of strengthening staffing industry regulation. There are around 800,000...more
On August 19, 2016, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed a bill prohibiting noncompete agreements for low-wage employees. In addition to prohibiting most private-sector employers from entering into noncompetes with its...more
What Is the DTSA and How Is It Different From the Uniform Trade Secrets Act?
Until recently, the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (EEA) allowed for federal trade secret actions by the U.S. Department of Justice. The...more
6/22/2016
/ Asset Seizure ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Ex Parte ,
Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Misappropriation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Trade Secrets ,
Uniform Trade Secrets Acts ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies
Two recent rulings in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division and the Central District of Illinois, Peoria Division, have further blurred the “bright line” two-year consideration rule established by the Illinois...more
The Illinois Supreme Court’s recent refusal to review the Illinois Appellate Court’s controversial decision in Fifield v. Premier Dealer Services, Inc., No. 1-12-0327, 2013 IL App (1st) 120327 (Jun. 24, 2013) leaves employers...more