#NonCompetes trending. #NYLeg prohibits non-compete agreements and certain restrictive covenants. It authorizes covered individuals to bring a civil action in court against any employer or persons alleged to have violated the prohibition.
#NDA
https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1523112

Today on the blog we provide links and summaries for three recent JOTWELL article reviews by Nancy Kim @HoffProf and Dan Barnhizer on terms of service, contractual waivers, and the enforceability of covenants not to compete.

#law #contracts #TermsofService #Waivers #NonCompetes #scholarship #academia

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/contractsprof_blog/2023/04/catching-up-on-jotwell.html

This is big.

FTC Seeks to Ban Employee Non-Competes

https://bep.legal/blog/f/ftc-seeks-to-ban-employee-non-competes #EmploymentLaw #NonCompete #NonCompetes #Contracts #Lawfedi @icymi_law @law

#noncompetes https://www.inquirer.com/health/ftc-noncompete-clauses-ban-philadelphia-home-care-20230326.html

RT @FTC
FTC extends public comment period on its proposed rule to ban noncompete clauses until April 19: https://bit.ly/3mtQ6uq

Submit comments here: https://bit.ly/3Hvitk5 #noncompetes

III. They were able to *hoard* the twiddling, using laws like the #DMCA, #CFAA, #Noncompetes, #TradeSecrecy, and other "#IP" laws to control the conduct of their competitors, critics and customers:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

That last point is important: it's not just that big corporations twiddle us to death - it's that they have made it illegal for us to twiddle back. Adblock is possible on the web, but to ad-block your #Iphone, you must first jailbreak it, which is a crime.

23/

"The [Notice] cites evidence that noncompetes for the senior executives may impede the creation of new competitors, new businesses, businesses that are the life blood of this economy. And we cite evidence that noncompetes for senior executives impede the creation of new jobs and fundamentally change the competitive conditions in this company for new businesses for the worse." #noncompetesftc #noncompetes https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/p201000noncompetenprm.pdf

Commissioner Bedoya emphasized that for the most senior employees, the rationale for banning noncompetes is harm to competition: "[T]he [Notice] does not assert, I repeat, does not assert that senior executives are somehow subject to coercion and exploitation. Rather, it relies on evidence in line with what was shared, which is that noncompetes for senior executives do harm competitive conditions." #noncompetesftc #noncompetes

"We think the practice results in a lot of waste in our industry; the industry suffers because experienced talent must sit out once their employment ends. That means these talented individuals have to start over in another industry.” Steve Cox of Steam Logistics at FTC forum
#noncompetesFTC #noncompetes

"Eighteen months ago we started a campaign to end noncompetes […] We’ve had 132 companies join us https://lnkd.in/gR5ZnpfM. When a company or a lobbyist tells you that they need a noncompetition agreement to protect their company, that’s absolutely false. They can protect their interest with nondisclosures, non-solicitation agreements. That covers their intellectual property, [and] recruiting their customer and employees. Steve Cox
#noncompetesFTC #noncompetes

"Imagine not being able to work in your industry because your company laid you off through no fault of your own! Many of these agreements are signed by young people who are fresh out of college, signed as a part of their employee setup packet[…] Oftentimes they’re not even allowed to take the document home and read it. Even if they did, few would be able to afford an attorney to review and explain" Steve Cox, Steam Logistics at FTC forum
#noncompetesFTC #noncompetes

"We heard today from an oncologist and a radiologist. Yes, these are sophisticated professionals. They are, I suspect, high-wage earners, but what they showed noncompetes for them was not something they negotiated. It was something imposed on them. And this is something that impacted their ability to provide health care and impact that ability to this day and that impacts their families." -- Commissioner Bedoya, FTC forum #noncompetesFTC #noncompetes

For every action there is an equal an opposite reaction. States, federal regulators and courts are cracking down on anti-competitive restrictive covenants in employment contracts. Employers fight back with modern indentured servitude. Let's use freedom of contract to make sure that only corporations are free! Reporting on a story in WaPo and research by Jonathan Harris

#law #contracts #employment #noncompetes #TRAPs

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/contractsprof_blog/2023/02/from-the-frying-pan-of-non-competes-into-the-fire-of-trastraps.html

These three - #TimWu, recently departed from the White House; #LinaKhan at the FTC; and #JonathanKanter at the DOJ - wasted no time turning word into deed, taking on mergers, addressing anticompetitive conduct (like blocking #noncompetes and protecting #RightToRepair), and filing suit against abusive firms:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/09/rest-in-piss-robert-bork/#harmful-dominance

24/

#5yrsago Announcing the Catalog of Missing Devices: the amazing stuff the #DMCA has strangled in its cradle https://www.eff.org/missing-devices

#1yrago How #noncompetes shackle workers to dead-end jobs https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/02/its-the-economy-stupid/#neofeudal

#1yrago To fight #inflation, fight #monopolies https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/02/its-the-economy-stupid/#overinflated

6/

This is one of those instances where conventional notice-and-comment and cost-benefit analysis really is a disservice to meaningful public participation. My proposal for "people's regulatory impact analyses" would seem to be a much better fit instead. https://www.theregreview.org/2019/08/05/goodwin-can-hip-hop-save-rulemaking/
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RT @FTC
Please note the updated deadline to tell us what you think about the proposed rule on #noncompetes is now …
https://twitter.com/FTC/status/1616120131926605830

RT @OrlyLobel@twitter.com

Rachel Arnow Richman & I have an op ed today arguing that we need to shift the debate on noncompetes from a labor rights worker protection policy to recognizing the economic gains for industry from national ban @thehill@twitter.com #noncompetes #ftc @FTC@twitter.com @linakhanFTC@twitter.com https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/3812587-the-business-case-for-a-nationwide-ban-on-noncompetes/

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/OrlyLobel/status/1614759074192838657

The FTC is back to being the activist US agency progressives sought in 1914 | Robert Reich https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/12/ftc-non-compete-agreements-biden-chair?CMP=share_btn_tw Last week, under its Biden-appointed chair, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a new rule banning non-compete agreements – and it’s a big deal. #competition #FTC #noncompetes #employment

I'm sorry (not sorry) for continuing to post this but I think it's really important. Please go to the #ftccomplaint website (link below) and submit a comment about #noncompetes.

https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FTC-2023-0007/document

"At this stage, the F.T.C.’s proposed rule is just that — a proposal. The public is invited to weigh in during the open commenting period. Hearing from a broad range of voices — including entrepreneurs, employers and workers who have been subject to noncompetes — will help ensure that our efforts are based in reality, not abstract theories." #antitrust #enforcement #noncompetes #Polsinelli

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/opinion/linakhan-ftc-noncompete.html?smid=tw-share