FTC Proposes New Rule Banning Non-Compete Agreements

Late last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that seeks to ban employers from imposing or enforcing non-compete clauses on workers.
 
The NPRM invites stakeholders to comment and provide input on the proposed ban and potential alternatives. The notice and comment period will end 60 days from when the NPRM is published in the Federal Register. 

​The FTC has been signaling a crackdown on non-compete clauses, especially after the Biden Administration encouraged the FTC to adopt such a ban, and several states and territories have enacted bans or prohibitions on the use of non-competes for workers who earn less than a statutory threshold – e.g., California, Washington, D.C., North Dakota, Oklahoma, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington.
 
HCAOA is carefully monitoring the situation and has been told that non-solicitation agreements and restrictive covenants, both commonly used in the home care space, are not included in the ban. Members will be updated as more is learned.