K&L Gates Triage: Reading the Fine Print: A Closer Look at the Proposed Regulation over Arbitration Clauses in Long-Term Care Resident Agreements
As states across the country move to limit or ban non-compete agreements, Florida is taking a sharp turn in the opposite direction. Already a friendly jurisdiction for non-competes, the state is doubling down on employer...more
While states across the country, including Texas and Virginia, continue to enact laws that restrict or ban noncompete agreements, a new Florida law does the opposite. Effective July 1, 2025, the Contracts Honoring...more
Kansas has long been an enforcement-friendly state for restrictive covenants, and it just got friendlier. A new state law, which took effect July 1, provides clearer guidelines and stronger protections for businesses seeking...more
A notable trend has emerged in Delaware with respect to the enforceability of non-competes – while once considered a management-friendly jurisdiction, two recent decisions demonstrate a marked shift towards a closer scrutiny...more
Over the past several years, EmployNews has chronicled multiple legislative, regulatory, and judicial assaults on the use of noncompetition agreements with employees. These attacks have weakened or eliminated employers'...more
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly recently signed a bill into law that deems certain nonsolicitation agreements with business owners and employees to be presumptively enforceable and not a restraint on trade. ...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
Against a growing trend of legislation and broader efforts seeking to limit or eliminate post-employment noncompetition restrictions, recent Massachusetts and First Circuit decisions in a dispute between DraftKings and one of...more
As every employer in the U.S. is likely aware, the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) near-universal ban on non-competes nationwide, which the FTC voted to implement via regulatory rulemaking on April 23 of this year, has...more
Since it was first published in April, the fate of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) final non-compete rule has been, to put it mildly, less than certain. Now, about a month before the rule is scheduled to take effect, the...more
On July 23, 2024, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied a motion for preliminary injunction seeking to stay the effective date of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) final...more
On July 23, 2024, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued a decision in ATS Tree Services, LLC v. FTC, which held that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had the authority to issue its...more
A federal court in New Jersey recently granted a franchisor’s motion for a preliminary injunction, enjoining the former franchisee from using the franchisor’s marks and violating the franchise agreement’s noncompete clause,...more
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed in part, and vacated in part, a district court’s issuance of an injunction preventing a franchisor’s enforcement of a noncompete covenant as written but allowing...more
Introduction - As we enter a new era of business landscape dynamics, Seyfarth Shaw is pleased to present the latest edition of our annual cornerstone publication. This comprehensive 50-State Non-Compete Desktop Reference,...more
You may have heard the half-serious joke that California acts as its own independent country. One example of this is California’s strong disfavor of non-compete agreements, which stands in contrast with the rest of the...more
A common example of a non-compete restriction is a new CPA who signs such an agreement as part of his or her onboarding paperwork. Years later, the CPA considers moving to another firm, or opening their own firm, but that...more
In a recent decision, a Georgia appellate panel held that an employee nonsolicitation covenant that limits what parties can do following the end of a business relationship must have an explicit geographic limitation to be...more
In order to seek enforcement of a noncompetition agreement in North Carolina, the plaintiff must show that it is protecting a legitimate business interest. What happens when the company seeking to enforce the agreement has...more
In February 2023, new legislation was proposed in the California State Assembly that, if adopted and signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, could have a significant impact on employers and their attorneys providing advice...more
More than two years into the pandemic, most employers are familiar with many of the challenges raised by engaging remote employees. However, one often overlooked issue is whether noncompetition agreements vetted for in-state...more
Historically, employers have used noncompete agreements to prevent competition or dissemination of confidential information when an employee leaves a company. However, the last few years has seen the erosion of their...more
On July 9, 2021, President Biden issued an “Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy.” Notably, the order encourages the FTC to promulgate rules to “curtail the unfair use of non-compete clauses and...more
On August 13, 2021, Governor Pritzker signed into law a bill amending the Illinois Freedom to Work Act governing restrictive covenants and non-competition agreements. On May 30, 2021, the Illinois General Assembly passed a...more
Following a nationwide trend, Illinois has proposed significant legislation affecting employee restrictive covenants, such as non-compete agreements. While the proposed law does not dramatically change most aspects of the...more