DBusiness runs article, “FTC Action on Non-Compete Agreements is Unnecessary" written by Butzel Long attorney, Phillip Korovesis
Last year brought with it numerous efforts to limit, restrict, or outright ban the use of non-compete agreements. Those efforts occurred at both the state and federal level. But 2019 also brought with it a renewed and focused effort at the federal level for change in the non-compete arena.
In July 2019, as part of that effort, Michigan Attorney General, Dana Nessel signed on to a letter, along with 18 other state attorneys general, to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in an effort to get the FTC to act on non-competes. Attorney General Nessel signed on again to that effort in a Nov. 15, 2019 follow-up letter asking the FTC to restrict or ban non-compete agreements.
The state attorneys general urged the FTC to take rule-making action to rein in non-compete agreements because the FTC “offers the quickest, most comprehensive regulatory path to protecting all workers from these exploitive contracts,” apparently ignoring any benefits such agreements might provide. The signers of that letter believe that this path was a better path forward even though they continued to support state and federal legislative reforms on non-competes.
