Articles Posted in Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants

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🚨A Pennsylvania federal judge DENIED an employer’s request to block the FTC’s non-compete rule.🚨

Do you remember that scene from Rounders, right after Mike McDermott spots Teddy KGB’s poker “tell,” when Teddy laments, “Hanging around…hanging around… kid’s got alligator blood. Can’t get rid of him.“? It feels that way, with the Federal Trade Commission’s non-compete Rule imposing a comprehensive ban on new non-competes with…

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Heads up, Pennsylvania healthcare providers! The Commonwealth passed a new noncompete law.

With most eyes focused on a pending lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to eliminate the FTC’s noncompete ban, local employers may have missed the news last week that Governor Shapiro signed into law a measure restricting the use of non-competition agreements in…

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A second bite at the apple? Plaintiffs ask to reconsider a nationwide injunction on the FTC noncompete rule

I’m a geek—I admit it. I get docket alerts whenever something happens in the FTC noncompete lawsuit pending in Texas, like last week when the judge blocked the Federal Trade Commission’s comprehensive ban on noncompetes—but only for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. For now, your business must comply with the…

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Yesterday, a court did block the FTC’s noncompete rule. But, here’s the thing…

Since my homeowner’s insurance may not cover multitasking blog-related accidents around a lit Fourth-of-July grill, I’m not taking any chances. So, let’s address yesterday’s decision by a Texas federal judge to block the Federal Trade Commission‘s blunderbuss Noncompete Rule, which imposes a comprehensive ban on new noncompetes with all workers,…

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A Texas federal judge should decide the fate of the FTC noncompete rule today. So, let’s make this interesting….

Let’s play a game of “closest to the pin.” But first, here is a quick recap before I explain the rules of the game. In January 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a rule generally prohibiting employers from imposing noncompetes on their workers. In the following year and change, the federal agency…

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“Chevron” for non-lawyers

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its 40-year-old decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which had lawyers buzzing and many others wondering what the big deal with Chevron is anyway. I’ll explain. What is Chevron? In Chevron, the Supreme Court had to decide whether the Clean Air Act…

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Your non-competes and non-solicits may violate ANOTHER federal law: the National Labor Relations Act

The Federal Trade Commission isn’t the only government agency gunning for your company’s noncompetes. Earlier this month, a National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge ruled that a non-union employer violated the National Labor Relations Act by utilizing unlawful noncompete and nonsolicitation provisions in employment agreements. During their employment and…

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Here’s why the FTC thinks its non-compete rule will survive a legal challenge

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission responded to efforts by a Texas business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to convince a Texas federal judge to block the Federal Trade Commission’s final Non-compete Rule, which would impose a comprehensive ban on new non-competes with all workers, including senior executives. The FTC’s brief is…

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The world’s largest HR organization does NOT support the FTC’s non-compete rule

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), with nearly 340,000 members in 180 countries (of which I am one), filed an amicus brief last week in a lawsuit pending in Texas in which it supported efforts to block the Federal Trade Commission’s final non-compete Rule. The FTC seeks to impose a comprehensive…

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Here’s why the Chamber of Commerce believes the FTC’s non-compete rule is unlawful

Earlier this week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told a Texas federal judge to block the Federal Trade Commission’s final Noncompete Rule, which would impose a comprehensive ban on new noncompetes with all workers, including senior executives. Here is a link to the 40-page brief. But I’ll break it down for you in…