Can you have noncompetes with employees or not?
For a long time, state law governed the enforceability of noncompetes and then in April 2024, the Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission voted to ban noncompete agreements almost entirely.
The rule faced immediate legal challenges, (the rule was struck down but was still playing it's way through the courts) employers were left scrambling to change agreements or abandon them entirely.
Then we had a presidential election and change in administration, and now the Trump administration’s FTC has fully abandoned any efforts to support the ban.
So, where does that leave the ban and what does it mean for employers wanting to use noncompete agreements?