The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is hosting a public forum to examine its proposed ban on non-compete clauses.
The virtual forum will be held from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT on Feb. 16 and will be broadcast on the FTC’s website, transcribed, posted online, and made part of the public record.
A non-compete clause is an agreement an employee signs stating they will not engage in a business that competes with the employer’s business when they are no longer employed by said company.
“Companies impose non-competes on workers across industries and job levels, from hairstylists and warehouse workers to doctors and business executives,” the FTC’s press release stated. “Evidence indicates that non-competes hurt workers and harm competition by blocking workers from pursuing better opportunities and by preventing employers from hiring the best available talent.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke in support of the proposed move, saying she believes the FTC is right to work on implementing the rule.
“It’s time to ban non-competes,” Warren said on Twitter a few weeks after the FTC’s initial Jan. 5 announcement about the proposal. “Companies are boosting their profits by $300 billion each year by trapping millions of American workers in their jobs, suppressing wages and competition. Enough is enough.”
Clark called out the FTC for government overreach saying, “If the FTC can regulate non-compete agreements without authorization from Congress, there is no aspect of employment or commercial arrangements that it doesn’t have the authority to regulate or ban arbitrarily.”