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FTC cracks down on companies that impose harmful noncompete restrictions

ftc.gov

21–30 of 189 posts

Re: FTC cracks down on companies that impose harmful noncompete restrictions

#21
post #8

We really need general regulations on non-competes. Bare minimum, it should be required that a company pay you a full salary if they want to block you from seeking employment elsewhere with your skills. If a company really cares that much about stopping competitors from taking advantage of your skillset, they need to be willing to pay up.

Then how would a company protect it's trade secrets?

Be an employer people don’t want to leave. Same logic as they enjoy.

Re: FTC cracks down on companies that impose harmful noncompete restrictions

#22

We really need general regulations on non-competes. Bare minimum, it should be required that a company pay you a full salary if they want to block you from seeking employment elsewhere with your skills. If a company really cares that much about stopping competitors from taking advantage of your skillset, they need to be willing to pay up.

I train myself, I educate myself, I continue all that, the company just rents an expert, but I own me.

Re: FTC cracks down on companies that impose harmful noncompete restrictions

#23
post #7

We really need general regulations on non-competes. Bare minimum, it should be required that a company pay you a full salary if they want to block you from seeking employment elsewhere with your skills. If a company really cares that much about stopping competitors from taking advantage of your skillset, they need to be willing to pay up.

That still is anticompetitive.

The competition could still poach the employee for more money, if they deemed them worth it. Which is plain old competition.

Re: FTC cracks down on companies that impose harmful noncompete restrictions

#24
For all its faults, California really got this one right. In some ways, this goes to show just how remarkably harmful non-competes are to the economy. If you make non-competes unenforceable, you can put all kinds of barriers up and still have a thriving tech industry (a high concentration of research universities didn't hurt either).

Re: FTC cracks down on companies that impose harmful noncompete restrictions

#26
post #20
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but than the person is liable and could be charged in that case

Example: Former Uber Executive Sentenced To 18 Months In Jail For Trade Secret Theft From Google https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/former-uber-executive-s... > Anthony Scott Levandowski pleaded guilty and was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for trade secret theft related to Google’s self-driving car program, announced United States Attorney David L. Anderson and John F. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge of t…

That was straight up IP theft. Not hey Uber here’s how we solved XYZ problem at Google after 4 years of R&D digging.

Re: FTC cracks down on companies that impose harmful noncompete restrictions

#27
post #20
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but than the person is liable and could be charged in that case

Example: Former Uber Executive Sentenced To 18 Months In Jail For Trade Secret Theft From Google https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/former-uber-executive-s... > Anthony Scott Levandowski pleaded guilty and was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for trade secret theft related to Google’s self-driving car program, announced United States Attorney David L. Anderson and John F. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge of t…

This is an extreme example. This guy downloaded gigabytes of data from Google before he left. The vast majority of cases are not like this and empowers world never know what their former employees tell subsequent employers

Re: FTC cracks down on companies that impose harmful noncompete restrictions

#28
I wish federal law would just abolish non-competes completely.

When I gave advanced notice to Tudor Investment that I would be quitting they threatened to fire me with cause so that they could still enforce the non-compete without paying me in accordance with NY state law.

And they followed through with their threat, sending me a letter telling me I was being terminated with cause the day I officially quit.

To make their shitty shenanigans worse, they made the unpaid non-compete just short enough so that it wouldn't be worth it to sue. The NY Department of Labor also doesn't handle complaints if you're salaried above a certain threshold.

Don't ever work for Tudor Investment, they're two-faced assholes, but I shouldn't be telling you that when the government should.

Re: FTC cracks down on companies that impose harmful noncompete restrictions

#29
post #8

We really need general regulations on non-competes. Bare minimum, it should be required that a company pay you a full salary if they want to block you from seeking employment elsewhere with your skills. If a company really cares that much about stopping competitors from taking advantage of your skillset, they need to be willing to pay up.

Then how would a company protect it's trade secrets?

I would wager that there aren't many trade secrets (I'm sure there are some) that a security guard (from the link) could bring with them.

Re: FTC cracks down on companies that impose harmful noncompete restrictions

#30
Things like this are the best way to increase per-employee productivity in the economy, which has been flatlining.

Another example could be tacitly encouraging holding multiple jobs.

When the interests of employers conflict with the interests of overall economic productivity, government should lean towards the latter, instead of always taking the side of the employer. Let capitalism do what it does best.

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