New York State Slated to Join Post-Employment Non-Compete Ban Bandwagon
- New York State is expected to join the growing number of states that significantly limit or prohibit non-compete agreements. On June 20, 2023, the New York State legislature passed S3100A , a bill broadly prohibiting post-employment non-compete restrictions. S3100A is expected to be signed... ›
- - NLRB, Non-Compete
NLRB General Counsel Memo Seeks Aggressive Enforcement Against Employee Non-Competes
By: Eric Akira Tate, Andrew R. Turnbull, Melissa M. Harclerode and Kwan Park
On May 30, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board’s (the “NLRB’s”) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo (the “General Counsel”) issued Memo General Counsel 23-08 (the “Memo”), expansively finding that non‑competes with employees violate the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”), except in limited circumstances. As... › Minnesota Passes Near Total Ban of Non-Compete Agreements
By: Andrew R. Turnbull and David F. Papas
On May 16, 2023, the Minnesota legislature passed SF 3035 (the “Bill”), banning nearly all post-termination non-compete agreements with employees and independent contractors. Although the Bill marks another state in the trend of jurisdictions passing laws limiting the use of employee non-competes, the Bill goes... ›No-Poach Case Alert: DOJ’s No-Poach Strategy Dealt Another Blow As Court Tosses Case Before It Reaches Jury
By: Eric Akira Tate and Cooper J. Spinelli
The U.S. Department of Justice’s (“DOJ’s”) ongoing efforts against no-poach agreements suffered their latest setback on April 28, 2023, following the Connecticut federal court’s ruling in U.S.A. v. Mahesh Patel , acquitting all six defendants of criminal liability for allegedly entering into a horizontal... ›Recent Non-Compete Trends: Courts Continue to Enforce Non-Competes While Politicians Seek to Narrow Them
By: Eric Akira Tate, Andrew R. Turnbull, Michael Schulman, Cooper J. Spinelli and Jinny S. Hwang
The FTC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking of its Non-Compete Clause Rule, which would ban non-competes altogether if promulgated, opened 2023 with a bang. Whether it goes into effect, in what form, and whether the Rule will survive the legal challenges it will encounter, all... ›Trio of Delaware Cases Signal Stricter Review of Sale-of-Business Non-Competes
By: Andrew R. Turnbull, Cooper J. Spinelli and David F. Papas
On March 16, 2023, the Delaware Chancery Court in Intertek Testing Services NA, Inc. v. Eastman found a sale-of-business non-compete was overbroad, given its worldwide geographic scope, and refused to modify it to make it enforceable. Intertek marks the third time in less than... ›Delaware Court Refuses to Enforce or Blue Pencil Sale of Business Non-compete
By: Eric Akira Tate, Andrew R. Turnbull and Cooper J. Spinelli
20 second read: While courts generally appear to give greater deference to enforcement of sale of business non-competes, at least one Delaware court confirmed that if a court thinks the restrictions go beyond the scope of the business being sold, it may refuse to enforce... ›D.C. Council Waters Down Non-Compete Ban While Keeping Some Significant Limitations
By: Andrew R. Turnbull and Eric Gebert
On July 12, 2022, the D.C. Council amended the Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 (the “Amendment”), walking back from an earlier version of the bill that, as previously discussed, contemplated a nearly total ban for employee non-competes. The Amendment, however, places significant limits... ›Preparing for Colorado’s New Limits on Employee Non-Competes
By: Andrew R. Turnbull and David F. Papas
Continuing the ongoing trend of states placing restrictions on employee non-competes, on May 10, 2022, the Colorado General Assembly passed a bill amending C.R.S. § 8-2-113 (the “Amendment”) and adding significant limitations on employee non-compete agreements. Most notably, the Amendment seeks to: Void all non-compete... ›Illinois Ushers In New Restrictions on Non-competes and Non-solicits
By: Eric Akira Tate and Andrew R. Turnbull
On May 31, 2021, the Illinois General Assembly passed amendments to the Illinois Freedom to Work Act (the “Amendments”) that aim to impose significant new restrictions on employee non-compete and non-solicit agreements in Illinois. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is expected to sign the Amendments... ›