As you may recall, we recently reported that Massachusetts legislators’ attempts to pass a bill altering the landscape of non-compete enforceability (including Governor Deval Patrick’s bold push to ban non-compete agreements altogether) failed yet again.  As has become a nearly perennial event in the Commonwealth, efforts to push legislation through by the close of the session were frenzied, but ultimately
Continue Reading Massachusetts Governor Makes Last Ditch Effort to Pass Non-Compete Legislation Before His Term Ends

Although, as we have previously reported, the Massachusetts legislature arguably got closer to enacting a non-compete statute this year than ever before ─ which, if Governor Deval Patrick had his druthers, would have banned them outright ─ there will be no new legislation this year according to our sources.   The legislative session ends today.

As we last reported,
Continue Reading No Massachusetts Non-Compete or Trade Secret Legislation This Year

We reported in our post of June 11th that Governor Patrick had introduced a sweeping economic growth bill (HB4045) — that, if passed, would ban employee non-competes in the Commonwealth. We also explained that subsequent to Governor Patrick’s bill, another bill (HB4082), was introduced that stripped Governor’s Patrick’s bill and left only those portions dealing with trade secrets
Continue Reading Another Public Hearing Scheduled for Massachusetts Non-Compete Bill: What’s Next?

As we have previously reported, in April of this year, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick introduced a sweeping economic growth bill (HB4045) that, if passed, would ban employee non-competes in the Commonwealth.  The bill has taken a somewhat convoluted path to date, and we wanted to update you on some notable twists and turns.

First, in mid-May, yet another bill
Continue Reading Inching Closer to California: An Update on Massachusetts Non-Compete Legislation

As we discussed on the blog not too long ago, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick recently introduced legislation that would eliminate virtually all employee non-compete agreements, with a few minor exceptions.  On April 23, Dawn Mertineit spoke with LexBlog’s Colin O’Keefe in a live online interview to discuss what this proposed legislation could mean for employers with Massachusetts operations.  Specifically, Dawn
Continue Reading Massachusetts Moves to Ban Non-Competes – Dawn Mertineit Explains What Employers Should Do Now

By Katherine E. Perrelli, Dawn Mertineit and Erik W. Weibust

Last week, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick proposed sweeping legislation that would eliminate employee non-compete agreements in Massachusetts.  While it remains to be seen whether this bill will actually become law, employers should be aware of the potential implications of this far-reaching bill, and should implement steps sooner rather than
Continue Reading Massachusetts Governor Proposes Sweeping Legislation Banning Non-Compete Agreements

By Katherine Perrelli, Dawn Mertineit, and Erik Weibust

As we reported last week, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has proposed sweeping legislation that would eliminate employee non-compete agreements in Massachusetts.  Now that we have had an opportunity to review the Governor’s bill, entitled “An Act to Promote Growth and Opportunity” (HB4045), we wanted to report back on its
Continue Reading Update: Massachusetts Governor Proposes Sweeping Legislation Banning Non-Compete Agreements

We attended a hearing today before the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development regarding the pending non-compete legislation on which we have previously posted

Among others who testified about the issue was Governor Deval Patrick’s Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, Gregory Bialecki. 

Mr. Bialecki finally acknowledged publicly what the Patrick Administration has been dancing around
Continue Reading Is Massachusetts Inching Closer to California? Governor Deval Patrick Issues Public Support for the “Outright Elimination” of Non-Compete Agreements