On March 7, 2025, lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed motions requesting a 120-day stay of the agency’s appeal of district court decisions in the Fifth Circuit and Eleventh Circuit, which had blocked the FTC’s proposed ban on non-competes (the “Rule”) in the Ryan v. FTC and Properties of the Villages (“POV”) v. FTC cases, respectively. The nearly-identical
Continue Reading FTC Requests Stay of Appeals to Challenges to FTC Non-Compete Rule Citing New Administration
On February 14, 2025, NLRB Acting General Counsel William B. Cowan rescinded a number of active General Counsel Memoranda citing an increasing “backlog of cases [grown] to the point where it is no longer sustainable.” Among those rescinded were a pair of memos issued by recently ousted NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo that declare non-compete agreements between employers and workers
Continue Reading Acting NLRB General Counsel Rescinds Biden-Era Policy Guidance on Non-Compete Agreements
On October 4, 2024, Plaintiff ATS Tree Services, LLC (“ATS”) voluntarily dismissed its claims against the FTC challenging the agency’s Non-Compete Rule. See ATS Tree Services, LLC v. Fed. Trade Comm’n, et al., No. 2:24-CV-01743-KBH (E.D. Pa. July 23, 2024). The dismissal ends the case before a decision on the merits, preventing the FTC from obtaining a favorable ruling
Continue Reading Pennsylvania Plaintiff Drops Challenge to FTC Non-Compete Rule
Yesterday, a third court weighed in on the FTC’s proposed ban on non-competes, set to go into effect on September 4, 2024. Judge Corrigan of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida granted the plaintiff Properties of the Villages, Inc.’s (“POV”) motion to stay the effective date of the rule and preliminarily enjoin its enforcement.
Continue Reading More Bad News for the FTC: Federal Court in Florida Enjoins Enforcement of Non-Compete Ban
Yesterday, the Court in the ATS Tree Services v. FTC case denied Plaintiff ATS Tree’s Motion to Stay and Enjoin the FTC’s recent ban on non-compete agreements (the “Final Rule”), because, the Court held, ATS Tree failed to establish irreparable harm and a likelihood of success on the merits. This puts this court’s ruling in direct conflict with the July
Continue Reading Federal Court in Pennsylvania Creates District Split on Enforceability of FTC Non-Compete Ban
The FTC’s recently issued Final Rule banning non-competes for most workers prohibits an employer from (1) threatening to enforce a non-compete against a worker, (2) advising the worker that, due to a non-compete, they should not pursue a particular job opportunity, or (3) telling the worker that the worker is subject to a non-compete.[1] The FTC asserts that these
Continue Reading The FTC’s “Good Faith” Exception to the Non-Compete Ban: Pending Legal Challenges Are Not a Basis for Non-Compliance
The FTC’s Final Rule banning non-competes in worker agreements contains a noteworthy exception that its provisions “do not apply where a cause of action related to a non-compete clause accrued prior to the effective date.”[1] The “existing cause of actions” exception, codified as Section 910.3(b), is a new addition that was not included in the FTC’s proposed rule issued
Continue Reading Cutting Off Claims – When Does the FTC Non-Compete Ban Allow for Accrued Actions?
On May 3, 2024, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas entered an Order staying the proceedings in Chamber of Commerce v. FTC by granting the FTC’s motion to apply the first-to-file doctrine, in which a district court should generally order “stay, transfer, or dismissal” of a second-filed action that substantially overlaps with a pending, first-filed
Continue Reading FTC Non-Compete Ban Lawsuits Update: Eastern District of Texas Stays Chamber of Commerce Suit in Favor of Ryan LLC as First-to-File
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted in a 3 to 2 decision along party lines to adopt its Final Non-Compete Clause Rule (“Noncompete Rule”) banning post-employment non-compete clauses between employers and their workers. The Noncompete Rule is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on May 7, 2024, giving the rule an Effective Date of
Continue Reading Analysis of FTC Non-Compete Ban Legal Challenges: Does the Ban Pass Constitutional Muster? (And Other Issues)
On March 21, 2024, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) approved a Federal Register notice seeking public comment on its proposal to revise its current Statement of Policy on Bank Merger Transactions. Among the proposed revisions, the agency’s proposal will prohibit non-compete agreements in bank mergers in which the selling bank is required to divest all or a portion
Continue Reading FDIC Updates Bank Merger Guidance to Include Non-Compete Ban