Are Noncompetes Really Dead?

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) estimates that one in five American employees are bound by noncompete agreements that impose time or location restrictions on their ability to pursue work with or create competitor companies. In April, the FTC issued a rule banning noncompetes with the intent to “generate over 8,500 new businesses each year, raise worker wages, lower health care costs and boost innovation.”Will a court issue an injunction against the rule? Does the FTC even have the power to make the call on noncompetes?In this episode of the Cornell Keynotes podcast from eCornell, Stewart J. Schwab, the Jonathan and Ruby Zhu Professor of Law at Cornell Law School, joins host Chris Wofford to discuss these issues. The conversation covers:Schwab’s approach to teaching noncompete agreementsEmployee duty of loyaltyPurposes of noncompete agreements for employersInfamous noncompetes at Jimmy John’s and AmazonApplications of antitrust law in the labor marketOrganized labor and workers’ rightsNon-disclosure, non-solicitation and training reimbursement agreementsPotential for injunctions and decisions from Congress and the Supreme CourtRead about the FTC’s final rule on noncompetes.Explore employee duties, including noncompetes, wage and benefit regulations, anti-discrimination principles and more in Stewart J. Schwab’s Employment Law for Leaders online certificate program from eCornell.Interested in other aspects of law and business? Consider these programs:Legal EssentialsEmployment LawLabor RelationsEmployee Relations and Investigations Follow eCornell on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and X.