The 'Non Compete Clause' is DEAD TO ME
About 30 million American employees are currently held into the dreaded 'non-compete clause' : from CEOs to hairstylists. It's an agreement some employers make new hires sign forbidding an employee (in some cases, even fast food workers) from leaving the company and working for the competitor within a certain amount of years, or from leaving a company and opening your own competing business (usually with a certain mile radius or zip code area). It's been the crux of many small-claims lawsuits, and the former employer (plaintiff) always wins.
“It is so profoundly unfree and unfair for people to be stuck in jobs they want to leave, not because they lacked better alternatives, but because noncompetes preclude another firm from fairly competing for their labor, requiring workers instead to leave their industries or their homes to make ends,” FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter (D) said in prepared remarks.
Now that clause is no longer legal, thanks to a 3-2 vote today by the FTC banning such clauses. Employers who have these agreements with current and past employees must tell employees they are no longer in effect. The law takes effect 120 days after it's entered in the Federal Register.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | April 26, 2024 9:53 PM
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Great news for both workers’ right and capitalism.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | April 23, 2024 9:33 PM
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Who are the 2 who voted against it? And why would they? Assholes.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | April 23, 2024 9:40 PM
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R2 That's a good question. Who would want to shoot this down ?
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | April 24, 2024 1:08 AM
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[quote]While the dissenting commissioners said they did not support noncompete agreements carte blanche, they did not believe the agency had the authority to issue the rule without an express directive from Congress.
For R2 and R3…
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | April 24, 2024 1:10 PM
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Noncompete clauses among businesses were deemed unenforceable decades ago. It was common for a retail chain to sell its supermarkets or whatever to another chain and then agree not to re-enter the market, with or without a specified limit on the time. Chains routinely turned around and went into the same business with fresh capital from the sale and often became stronger competitors. The chains that bought their old stores routinely were unable to make these no-competes stand up in court.
If the court accepts that corporations are people, then actual people should have the same rights.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | April 24, 2024 1:27 PM
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I had to sign one at my last job, the first one I ever got boxed in to signing. My boss was in trouble, and he was getting pressure to getting signatures on a retention bonus that included a non compete. He got fired, I switched jobs, and now I have to wait it out until September or until this there effect in August.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | April 24, 2024 1:33 PM
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I have a friend who is a masseuse and worked for one of those 'chain spas' that are in just about every high end hotel. She and her coworkers had to sign non-competes when they started. When the spa first opened in the new hotel, they were busy - after about two years, as they went into the pandemic , business died and never recovered. In December 2022, she and a colleague planned to leave and open their own place about a mile away. However, on their last day of employment, the manager pulled out the contracts they signed and highlighted their 'non compete' agreement - they won't work for a competing company or open their own space within 15 miles for five years. They had forgotten all about it, and as she said - they didn't think the company would actually enforce it. But they did. I'm hoping this takes effect soon for their sake, so they don't have to wait until the end of 2027.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | April 24, 2024 1:51 PM
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So how does this fit in with companies that "raid" talent from their competitors by offering high salaries, etc.?
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | April 26, 2024 9:53 PM
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