From Mark Adams
Employers who had been fretting over the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) much maligned non-compete rule can feel relieved as a US District Court judge for the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide/permanent injunction to block its implementation.
The rule would have prevented employers not only from enforcing existing non-agreements against their employees (other than for bona-fide Senior Executives) but in addition to notify their employees no later than September 4th that their non-compete agreements would not be enforced.
Still, the injunction does not impact states (such as Massachusetts) that establish limits on when non-compete agreements can be used or (in the case of California) that prohibit most of them outright.
As of now, it remains an open question as to whether the FTC will appeal the lower court ruling but many have expressed skepticism about the likelihood of success on appeal given the track record of the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
Still, we will keep you posted on further developments as this, and other topics will be addressed at our upcoming Employment Law Summits that are scheduled this fall:
- RI Employment Law Summit: October 23rd
- MA Employment Law Summit: November 12th
- CT Employment Law Summit: November 14th
For more information on these events, or to register – visit www.eane.org.