{"id":1249,"date":"2019-04-02T14:02:56","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T14:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/federal-government-mulls-over-use-of-non-competes\/"},"modified":"2019-04-02T14:02:56","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T14:02:56","slug":"federal-government-mulls-over-use-of-non-competes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/federal-government-mulls-over-use-of-non-competes\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Government Mulls Over Use of Non-Competes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The last few months have seen a flurry of attention on the use of non-competes and whether they should be regulated in some fashion by the federal government.\u00a0 The primary focus of these efforts has been on the use of non-competes for low-wage and\/or low-skilled workers.\u00a0 This issue has been in the spotlight since Illinois\u2019 Attorney General <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/sidelined-making-sandwiches\/\">investigated<\/a> Jimmy John\u2019s for improperly using non-competes to restrain its sandwich makers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                On January 15, 2019, Senator Marco Rubio introduced the Freedom to Compete Act.\u00a0 This legislation follows prior legislative <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/putting-the-brakes-on-jimmy-johns-bill-banning-non-compete-agreements-for-low-wage-employees-introduced-in-congress-3\/\">attempts<\/a> to limit the non-competes since the Jimmy John\u2019s debacle came to light.\u00a0 Senator Rubio\u2019s proposal would ban the use of non-competes for certain workers who are considered non-exempt under federal overtime laws.<\/p>\n<p>                On March 7, 2019, Senator Rubio with a group of bipartisan senators sent a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.murphy.senate.gov\/download\/letter-to-gao-on-non-compete-agreement\">letter<\/a> to the U.S. General Accountability Office.\u00a0 The letter asked the GAO to review the effects of non-compete agreements on workers and the economy as a whole.\u00a0 The letter notes that the \u201cwide use\u201d of non-competes has \u201cspread from highly technical fields into less technical and lower wage work\u201d, and it points out that a range of commentators have raised concerns about the expansive use of non-competes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                The letter then specifically asks the GAO to \u201cassess\u201d the following areas: 1) What is known about the prevalence of non-compete agreements in particular fields, including low-wage occupations?; 2) What is known about the effects of non-compete agreements on the workforce and the economy, including employment, wages and benefits, innovation, and entrepreneurship?; and 3) What steps have selected states taken to limit the use of these agreements, and what is known about the effect these actions have had on employees and employers?\u00a0 These critical questions get at the heart of whether more robust or lax enforcement of non-competes is sounder economic policy.<\/p>\n<p>                Most recently, a group of Democratic senators sent a letter to the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.\u00a0 This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blumenthal.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/Sen%20Blumenthal%20et%20al%20re%20non%20competes_vF.pdf\">letter<\/a> asks the FTC to use its rulemaking authority \u201cto combat the scourge of non-compete clauses rigging our economy against workers.\u201d\u00a0 It notes that \u201cthere now appears to be a bipartisan consensus at the Federal Trade Commission that non-competes are harmful to workers\u201d and that \u201cfive commissioners have noted that they are deeply troubled by non-competes.\u201d\u00a0 The Senators urge that rulemaking is appropriate given that coercive use of non-competes and the inclusion of arbitration clauses hamper employees\u2019 ability to challenge their agreements and litigate non-compete disputes.<\/p>\n<p>                It remains to be seen whether the recent focus on non-competes at the federal level will result in any meaningful action by Congress or a federal agency, or whether non-compete law will continue to be left entirely to the states.\u00a0 We will continue to keep you informed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The last few months have seen a flurry of attention on the use of non-competes and whether they should be regulated in some fashion by the federal government.\u00a0 The primary focus of these efforts has been on the use of non-competes for low-wage and\/or low-skilled workers.\u00a0 This issue has been in the spotlight since Illinois\u2019 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mo_disable_npp":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,195,9],"tags":[113],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Federal Government Mulls Over Use of Non-Competes - Berman Fink Van Horn P.C.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/federal-government-mulls-over-use-of-non-competes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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