On July 1, the Florida Contracts Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act took effect, positioning Florida as one of, if not the most, employer-friendly states in noncompete and...more
Noncompete provisions continue to be governed by a constantly changing patchwork of state level legislation. In general, recent laws tend to limit their use among low wage earners or individuals in certain professions, such...more
4/10/2025
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employees ,
Employment Contract ,
Healthcare ,
New Legislation ,
New Regulations ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Physicians ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws ,
Trade Secrets
Trade secrets, noncompetes, and other restrictive covenants continued to make headlines in 2024. Most notably, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a final rule imposing a near total ban on employee noncompetes that...more
On July 3, the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a decision and order enjoining the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from enforcing its final rule banning most noncompete agreements....more
On April 16, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it will hold a special Open Commission Meeting on Tuesday, April 23 at 2:00 p.m. ET, for purposes of voting on its proposed final rule banning noncompete...more
2023 was a banner year for trade secrets, non-competes, and other restrictive covenants. Employee non-competes continued to garner attention at the federal agency level, drawing commentary and action from the Federal Trade...more
3/13/2024
/ Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Cybersecurity ,
Damages ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Former Employee ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
New Legislation ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws ,
Trade Secrets
On May 30, 2023, Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), published a controversial enforcement memorandum asserting that most post-employment non-competition agreements for...more
In a case involving government contracts, the Fourth Circuit held that a company could proceed with its claims against three former employees for actions they took as employees – through their newly formed company - to pursue...more
On February 16, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held a public forum on its proposed rule that would, with limited exceptions, ban employers from using employee non-compete agreements and require rescission of...more
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a proposed rule that, with limited exceptions, would both ban post-termination non-compete covenants in employment agreements and require rescission of existing...more
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a new rule that would ban employers from requiring workers to sign non-competes and require recission of existing non-competes. The FTC’s press release...more
On July 12, 2022, the Council of the District of Columbia voted to amend the District of Columbia’s Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 (the “Act”). Implementation of the Act has been delayed on several...more
Implementation of the District of Columbia’s Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 (the “Act”) has now been officially delayed until October 1, 2022. The Act had been scheduled to take effect on April 1,...more
In December 2020, the Council of the District of Columbia passed the Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020.
As Arent Fox previously outlined, the Act would make the District of Columbia one of the few...more
Non-compete agreements have recently come under attack across the country, both at the state and federal levels. Massachusetts passed legislation in 2018 that imposed additional requirements on employers in order for their...more
On January 11, 2021, Mayor Muriel Bowser signed into law the Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020, passed by the Council of the District of Columbia in December 2020.
Update: The law will now be published...more
In a recent opinion, the Fairfax Circuit Court deemed unenforceable the non-compete and employee non-solicitation provisions of two doctors who had performed work for the United States Army on behalf of a government...more
3/6/2020
/ Burden of Proof ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Evidentiary Hearings ,
Former Employee ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Public Policy ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Trade Secrets ,
VA Supreme Court
As noted in an earlier Alert, on January 9, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission held a public workshop and invited public comments on whether the FTC should issue a rule that would restrict or prohibit the use of non-competes...more
In short, the petitioners asked for a rule that non-competes are an unfair method of competition that is illegal per se under Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Further, they asked that any employer presenting,...more
1/27/2020
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Comment Period ,
Competition ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Former Employee ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Labor Regulations ,
Low-Wage Workers ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Public Comment ,
Public Workshops ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Rulemaking Process