The Federal Trade Commission narrowly voted Tuesday to ban nearly all noncompetes, employment agreements that typically prevent workers from joining competing businesses or launching ones of their own.
Shortly after the vote, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it would sue the FTC to block the rule
The US Chamber of Commerce is a right-wing lobbying group for businesses, unrelated to the US Department of Commerce which is an actual government agency.
NDA is different than noncompete. Two companies sign an NDA so they can work together for example without fear the one or the other will disclose secrete information. Same between two regular folks. Like if I’m working on some plastic gizmo and I need to have a part made, I don’t just send it out to any machine shop. I first ask them to sign my NDA so they don’t just figure out my part and start selling it under a different name. 99% of the time there’s no need, but that 1%, that’s when you could be sitting on a goldmine and you end up giving it away for nothing.
the fact that non competes and NDAs are a thing upon leaving a company is fucking insane to me, seems like blackmail at best and straight illegal at worst.
the fact that non competes and NDAs are a thing upon leaving a company is fucking insane
Non-competes are completely evil. Especially so in fields requiring very specialized skillsets. And even more so when the company insisting on the non-compete lays off people.
How the fuck is someone supposed to keep a roof over their head in a situation like that?
Wow that’s actually good. So who did this, where’d they put the original people, and how can we replicate the results with every other regulatory body?
I have been told (by my attorney) that arbitration is sometimes more expensive than filing suit. IIRC, the rationale is that arbitration can have very high fees and involve a large number of people. It was in the context of drawing up a boilerplate nda, but it has been awhile and I don’t remember the details.
Lovely. Deterring people from claiming damages by making it have a high barrier of entry or financially stupid to follow through with. Not to mention, using an arbitration agreement to make it risky to start class-action lawsuits and obscure visibility so nobody else knows they could get compensation from a company’s misdeeds.
In other words, fuck the consumer. That sounds about right.
This is by no means in defense of the practice, but I remember taking a doctor’s de bene esse deposition, and afterwards he goes to the taking attorney “Hey, you’re paying me more than this case is worth, what gives?” And the attorney said the carrier is trying everything in an effort to deter people filing lawsuits for easy 5-10k payouts. I understand the rationale, but it still sucks.
ive signed one for every job I’ve ever worked, I think. UK and USA, employment and contractor. And then hopped competitors and to my knowledge no one even so much as raised an eyebrow.
In some countries this has long been handled by requiring that non-competes are only enforceable if the employer employee keeps on getting paid during the non-compete period.
Want to restrict my freedom of trading my work, pay up!
What gets me is how controversial things like this are in the US. Non-competes are antisocial, because they blunt one of the few mechanisms capitalism has to keep employers in check – labor market mobility. One of the things that’s supposed to make capitalism kind of okay is the fact that “if you don’t like it, you can go elsewhere.” Well, if you’re not allowed to start a business or get another job in your line of work for like years after you leave, how the hell are you supposed to actually do that? How does the labor market route around bad employers when workers are literally trapped?
Way I see it, a non-compete is just an employer’s way of telling you they’d keep you trapped in a box in your off-hours if they could.
My country has non-competes in the most sensible way: if you don’t want the employee to go to a competitor, you must pay him what he could earn at the competitor during the duration of the non-compete. Employee quits? He can either join the competitor or you can pay him as long as you want him away from the competitor.
Will employers still put non-applicable non-competes? They sure do and I smile when I see those baseless clauses. Have they tried enforcing them at the “work tribunals” (free for the employee), yes they have and they’ve been laughed off by the judges.
Is it controversial? The only support I’ve heard for them comes from corps, sleazy executives looking to control their employees. Everyone else is like”meh, clearly unfair and should be illegal but I can’t do anything about it and still have a job”
Another commenter in this thread noted that the chamber of commerce is just a right wing lobby group, completely separate to the department of commerce. Not sure if you know that already, but I think it basically aligns to the view of the comment you replied to.
Unfortunately, there is a strong implication in American culture that your worth as a human being scales directly with your productivity + net worth. Rich people are intelligent and to be admired
Now take all that stuff that you pointed out as bad, and add on the fact that your healthcare typically comes from your employer too!
You probably don’t even need me to tell you that the right wing media in this country would immediately kick into gear and start programming their base to hate the idea of labor market mobility and the market routing around bad employers. Those people ARE the bad employers!
Before long they’re going to start floating some modern version of an indenture contract for service workers and arguing for the reinstatement of serfdom.
Oh yeah, and they would be going for it right now if they thought they could get away with it.
I mean, how could you not appreciate your employer-provided housing and convenience stores? They’re right next to where you work. You don’t even need a car!
The ban, which will take effect later this year, carves out an exception for existing noncompetes that companies have given their senior executives, on the grounds that these agreements are more likely to have been negotiated. The FTC says employers should not enforce other existing noncompete agreements.
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