Tag: noncompete

New York State Legislature Sends Broad Noncompete Ban to Governor’s Desk

Kevin M. Passerini and Anthony A. Mingione ●

On June 20, 2023, the New York Assembly passed a bill already passed by the Senate banning all post-employment noncompete agreements with workers. The bill is headed to Governor Kathy Hochul’s office for her approval. Governor Hochul has voiced her support for a much narrower, income-targeted ban on noncompetes, but she has not previously voiced support for this broad a measure. While it is possible she may decline to sign the ban and insist upon amendments, many expect her to sign it, particularly given the overwhelming vote it received in both legislative houses.

More specific details of the noncompete agreement ban include:

      • The ban has no compensation threshold or exception for executives.
      • The ban covers all employees and independent contractors (and, through the vague definition of “covered individual,” may include other service providers/consultants and even workers who are partners, members, or other equityholders).
      • The ban appears focused on only traditional noncompetition agreements, despite the odd prefatory language stating, “Every contract by which anyone is restrained from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind is to that extent void.” The sentence that follows that pronouncement focuses on “non-compete agreement” (the defined term in the act); and the act expressly indicates that it is not intended to apply to certain non-solicitation provisions, confidentiality agreements, and agreements providing for a “fixed term of service,” provided that those agreements “do not otherwise restrict competition in violation of” the act.
      • The ban appears not to be retroactive since the bill it is amending states, “This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law and shall be applicable to contracts entered into or modified on or after such effective date,” and comments on the floor of the Assembly during last week’s debate and vote confirm that.
Continue reading “New York State Legislature Sends Broad Noncompete Ban to Governor’s Desk”

D.C. Mayor Signs Non-Compete Ban, Dramatically Alters Competitive Landscape

Kevin M. Passerini and Daniel L. Morgan

Late in December 2020, the District of Columbia Council passed legislation titled, “Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020” (the “Act”), barring the use of non-compete agreements and workplace policies that restrict D.C. employees from competing with their employers after, and even during, employment. This week, the Mayor signed the law. Barring an unlikely intervention by Congress (which has authority to review legislation passed by the D.C. Council), the law will take effect after the 30-day Congressional review period.

This Act follows a recent, growing trend to limit the use of non-competes, but it goes further than other recent legislative efforts: it applies to employees at all income levels and even bars the use of “during-employment” non-competes and workplace policies such as those aimed at preventing disloyalty and abuse of company resources. Several key areas warrant emphasis.

Ban Applies to Employees Performing Work in D.C. for Employers that Operate in D.C.

The Act applies to “employees,” defined as any “individual who performs work in the [District of Columbia] on behalf of an employer and any prospective employee who an employer reasonably anticipates will perform work on behalf of the employer in the [District of Columbia].” The term “employer” is defined as “an individual, partnership, general contractor, subcontractor, association, corporation, or business trust operating in the District, or any person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer operating in the District in relation to an employee, including a prospective employer.”

Continue reading “D.C. Mayor Signs Non-Compete Ban, Dramatically Alters Competitive Landscape”

Third Circuit Indicates Support for Use of Broader Restrictive Covenants in Post-Hire Agreements Rather Than a Uniform Approach at Hiring

Kevin M. Passerini

We wrote an earlier post about the Third Circuit’s opinion in ADP, LLC v. Rafferty, et al., confirming courts’ blue penciling authority (see here); but the Third Circuit’s analysis of ADP’s two-tiered restrictive covenant structure is also worth discussing, as it may have employers doing some head scratching.

Why the focus on ADP’s two-tiered contracting approach?

ADP’s first-tier agreements for new hires included confidentiality obligations and a one-year customer non-solicit tailored to the employee’s assigned role and contacts, but no non-compete. ADP’s second-tier agreements (used in connection with stock incentives offered to high-performing employees) added a one-year territory-based non-compete and broadened the scope of the one-year non-solicit to include all customers and business partners for which ADP has provided services and all prospects for which ADP reasonably expects to provide services during the two-year period following the employee’s termination—regardless of the employee’s responsibility for them or access to confidential information about them during employment. Continue reading “Third Circuit Indicates Support for Use of Broader Restrictive Covenants in Post-Hire Agreements Rather Than a Uniform Approach at Hiring”

We Are Hiring: PA Superior Court Upends the Law on “No Hire” Agreements

Scott F. Cooper

Countless companies contract with other companies to provide services and include a “no hire” provision (pursuant to which the parties to the contract agree to not hire employees of the contracting company) in the service contract. The goal of these provisions is to prevent the contractual business partner from raiding the other’s talent—at least not without paying a fee.

In what the Court acknowledged was the first test of this issue in Pennsylvania, earlier this month the Superior Court invalidated a “no hire” agreement between companies—even though they were not competitors. The Court reasoned that companies may enter into agreements barring solicitation of customers, but they cannot agree to “no hire” provisions. Non-compete agreements between employer and employee are still valid, but not via company-to-company “no hire” clauses. Continue reading “We Are Hiring: PA Superior Court Upends the Law on “No Hire” Agreements”

“In Term” Covenants Not to Compete Void or Valid?

California Employers May Restrict Their Employee’s Ability to Compete During the Term of Employment

Caitlin I. Sanders

Overview of California Noncompete Law

California employers know well that they cannot restrict their former employees from competing after the employment relationship ends. With limited exceptions, California law invalidates every contract under which a person is prevented from engaging in his or her profession, trade, or business.

California Business and Professions Code section 16600 codifies California’s longstanding public policy favoring open and uninhibited competition in the employment context. California’s public policy declaration can be summed up as follows: “The interests of the employee in his own mobility and betterment are deemed paramount to the competitive business interests of the employers….” Diodes, Inc. v. Franzen, 260 Cal. App. 2d 244, 255 (1968). Continue reading ““In Term” Covenants Not to Compete Void or Valid?”