David J. Woolf, Author at Laborsphere

The FTC Non-Compete Rule – It’s Finally Here (Almost)!

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that, next Tuesday, April 23, it will be releasing the final version of its proposed rule largely prohibiting employee non-competition restrictions. See FTC Announces Special Open Commission Meeting on Rule to Ban Noncompetes | Federal Trade Commission. The announcement will be preceded by a vote by the five FTC commissioners on whether to “authorize public disclosure of the proposed final rule.” Assuming that disclosure is authorized, which is expected, the FTC will present the rule and then vote to issue it. As of yet, there has been no indication whether the final rule will be the same as the proposed rule or, if not, what the changes will be.

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Delaware Is Increasingly No Longer a Safe Bet for Restrictive Covenants and Default Choice of Law Provisions

Employers should be careful before defaulting to Delaware choice of law for restrictive covenant agreements. Historically, Delaware law presented a good option, particular for Delaware entities. However, a series of court decisions out of that state have severely limited the advantages of that approach.

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Third Circuit Rejects Employer’s Attempt to Block Executive’s Move to Rival Despite Non-Compete Agreement

As we have written about previously, an increasing number of states, and Washington, D.C., have limited the circumstances under which employers can bind their employees to non-compete and similar agreements, particularly when low-wage workers (however defined) are involved. The courts, however, are not immune to the trend, as evidenced by the April 21, 2022 decision from the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, ADP, Inc. v. Levin. In that case, the Third Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction against a senior executive who had resigned from his Chief Strategy Officer position at his prior employer, ADP, to take over the Chief Executive Officer position at rival Benefitfocus.

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Washington, D.C.’s Non-Compete Ban Delayed Again

The Washington, D.C. Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Act of 2020 (D.C. Act) is on hold once again, this time due to emergency legislation signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser earlier this week. The new legislation pushes the D.C. Act’s effective date from April 1 to October 1, 2022. As reported here, the D.C. Act is one of the most comprehensive bans on employee non-competition restrictions to date. It not only prohibits post-separation non-competes for employees working within the District (consistent with what a handful of states, including California, already do), but also rejects common “anti-moonlighting” provisions that prevent employees from working for another employer, including a competitor, during their employment.

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New Law Prohibiting the Mandatory Arbitration of Sexual Harassment and Assault Claims Goes Into Effect

On March 3, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the “Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021” (the Act) into law. Upon signing the bill, which had bipartisan Congressional support, President Biden proclaimed, “[w]hen it comes to sexual harassment and assault, forced arbitration shielded perpetrators, silenced survivors, enabled employers to sweep episodes of sexual assault harassment under the rug and it kept survivors from knowing if others have experienced the same thing in the same workplace, at the hands of the same person.”

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Philadelphia Reintroduces Mask Requirements in Response to Delta Variant Concerns

On August 11, 2021, the City of Philadelphia announced that in order to curb the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19, it would be reintroducing certain mask requirements throughout the city.

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