Millions of American workers in all sorts of industries have signed some form of noncompete agreement. Their pervasiveness has led to situations where workers looking to change jobs can be locked out of their fields.
On today's episode: how one man tried to end noncompete contracts in his home state of Hawaii. And we update that story with news of a recent ruling from the Federal Trade Commission that could ban most noncompete agreements nationwide.
This episode was hosted by Erika Beras and Amanda Aronczyk. The original piece was produced by Dave Blanchard, edited by Ebony Reed, and engineered by Isaac Rodrigues. The update was reported and produced by Willa Rubin. It was edited by Keith Romer, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Josephine Nyounai.
The Federal Trade Commission has voted to ban employment agreements that typically prevent workers from leaving their companies for competitors, or starting competing businesses of their own.
The Federal Trade Commission will vote Tuesday on whether to issue a final rule banning noncompete agreements. The Biden administration has argued that noncompetes harm workers and stifle competition.
The Federal Trade Commission has proposed a new rule that bans the use of noncompete agreements, calling them an exploitative practice that suppresses wages and hampers innovation.