On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a Final Rule banning nearly all post-employment non-compete agreements, with limited exceptions related to the sale of a business and certain pre-existing agreements with senior executives, and requiring employers to send notices to current and former employees informing them that their non-competes were unenforceable. The Final Rule, which was scheduled to go into effect on September 4, 2024, has been subject to a number of legal challenges. This week, in Ryan LLC v. Federal Trade Commission, the federal district court for the Northern District of Texas set aside the Final Rule, ordering that it not be enforced or otherwise take effect for any employers nationwide.
Read MoreOn April 23, 2024, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) voted in favor of a Final Rule banning nearly all post-employment non-compete agreements, with limited exceptions related to the sale of a business and certain pre-existing agreements with senior executives. As expected, the Final Rule has been subject to a number of legal challenges. Earlier this month, in Ryan LLC v. Federal Trade Commission, the Federal court for the Northern District of Texas granted a motion for preliminary injunction and postposed the effective date of the Final Rule as applied only to the plaintiffs in that matter, on the basis that the FTC lacked the substantive rule-making authority to issue the non-compete ban. This week, in ATS Tree Services, LLC v. Federal Trade Commission, the Federal court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled in the opposite direction, denying plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction and stay of enforcement of the Final Rule.
Read MoreOn October 27, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) published a Final Rule (“New Rule”) concerning the joint-employer standard. The New Rule was delayed more than once due to legal challenges and on March 8, 2024, a federal court in Texas vacated the New Rule. On May 7, 2024, the NLRB filed an appeal to the Fifth Circuit seeking to reverse the Texas court’s decision. However, on July 19, 2024, the NLRB voluntarily dismissed this appeal.
Read MoreOn April 23, 2024, the United States Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) voted in favor of a Final Rule banning nearly all non-compete agreements, with limited exceptions related to the sale of a business and certain pre-existing agreements with senior executives. Since that time, the Final Rule became subject to different challenges, including by Ryan LLC, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (who intervened in the Ryan suit), and ATS Tree Services, LLC (E.D.PA). On July 3, Judge Ada E. Brown of the Northern District of Texas ruled in Ryan LLC v. Federal Trade Commission that while the FTC has the power to prevent unfair methods of competition through administrative proceedings, “Congress did not explicitly give the [FTC] substantive rulemaking authority.”
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