Can you have noncompetes with employees or not? For a long time, state law governed the enforceability of noncompetes and then in April 2024, the Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission voted to ban noncompete agreements almost entirely. The rule faced immediate legal challenges, and employers were left scrambling to change agreements or abandon them entirely.
The Florida Legislature passed the “Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act” last month to provide employers two new outlets for protecting confidential information and client relationships from departing employees. Notably, the CHOICE Act does not change or limit Florida’s existing restrictive covenant law but rather expands it to provide a
The Federal Trade Commission has a new chairman — Andrew Ferguson. Prior to becoming chairman, Ferguson was sworn in as an FTC commissioner in April 2024 under then-President Joe Biden. Ferguson’s designation as chairman may seem like a benign political appointment, but it could have major implications for businesses and individuals alike, particularly for those
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, now is the perfect time to reflect on things for which we have to be thankful. In the ever-evolving world of labor and employment law, there have been several significant developments over the past year that employers can appreciate.
Here are five key updates for which we are thankful:
We have news on two fronts:
As related to the Federal Trade Commission’s nationwide ban on noncompete agreements, the FTC has appealed the federal court injunction in Texas to the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Recall that the FTC issued its nationwide ban, with limited exceptions
Yesterday, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas set aside the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) rule banning most noncompete agreements (the Noncompete Rule). As a result, the Noncompete Rule will not be taking effect on September 4, 2024.
Previously, U.S. District Judge Ada Brown ruled that the plaintiffs were likely
By now, we all know that the FTC proposed a rule that will ban nearly every noncompete agreement and that a number of companies have filed legal challenges to it. This week, a federal judge in Pennsylvania weighed in, denying a request to enjoin the rule. This essentially causes a split among two federal
On Wednesday, July 3, a Texas federal court enjoined the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) rule banning most noncompetes (the Noncompete Rule) and has stayed the implementation of the Noncompete Rule, but only as to the plaintiffs involved in that case.
The ruling is “preliminary,” with a subsequent ruling planned on the ultimate merits of the
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission issued a broad Final Rule that effectively bans noncompete clauses nationwide. The FTC states that noncompete clauses are an unfair method of competition and violate Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. This ban does not cover such clauses already in place for senior executives that earn more
The National Labor Relations Board in 2023 has continued on its pro-union path in all areas of traditional labor law. Many of the NLRB’s actions are the result of the ongoing advice memos which are being issued by General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. We previously have blogged about some of the advice memo topics, such as