NEW LAW BANNING EMPLOYEE NON-COMPETE CLAUSES (IN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOKS AND AGREEMENTS) California’s Senate Bill 699 (along with existing laws), bans (actually voids) agreements that purport to restrain an employee from competing with the employer: Existing law (Business & Profession Code 16600) states "Every contract by which anyone is restrained from...
SEVERANCE AGREEMENTS INCLUDING CONFIDENTIALITY AND NON-DISPARAGEMENT CLAUSES ARE IN JEOPARDY, INCLUDING FOR PAST AGREEMENTS WITH EMPLOYEES We have been writing about the risks of using boilerplate provisions in agreements. Non-disparagement clauses and confidentiality clauses in employee severance agreements are included. Why? The federal National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) protects employees’...
NON-COMPETE AGREEMENTS KEEP GETTING STRUCK DOWN AS TOO BROAD When someone buys a business, the new owners typically want the prior owners not to compete. Those types of non-compete agreements have typically been enforceable if the business owner selling had at least 15% ownership in the company. But, for the...
SEVERANCE AGREEMENTS INCLUDING CONFIDENTIALITY AND NON-DISPARAGEMENT CLAUSES ARE IN JEOPARDY, INCLUDING FOR PAST AGREEMENTS WITH EMPLOYEES The National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) protects employees' rights to discuss the terms and conditions of their employment, including confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in settlement agreements. However, most severance agreements contain a confidentiality clause...
Federal Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Coming On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a RULE that would essentially ban all employee non-competes, such as restrictive covenants that contractually prohibit an employee from competing against a former employer. The FTC explained that “non-competes constitute an unfair method of competition and...
GOOGLE GOT SLAPPED – EMPLOYEE CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENTS ARE TOO BROAD AND EQUATE TO AN ILLEGAL NON-COMPETE High tech and entertainment companies in California are known for requiring that employees sign broad non-disclosure agreements or confidentiality agreements (“NDAs”). A California judge ruled last week that the Google’s NDAs are too broad...
New Executive Order Targeting Employee Non-Compete Agreements On July 9, 2021, President Biden made good on a campaign promise to address employment non-compete agreements by issuing a sweeping executive order called “Promoting Competition in the American Economy Order.” Although it does not immediately change the current legal landscape governing non-compete...