A Solution In Search Of A Problem? FTC Hosts Workshop To Consider Authority To Abolish Non-Competes

Within the last five months, the two executive arms responsible for enforcing antitrust laws—the US Department of Justice ("DOJ") and the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC")—held public workshops to examine the effect of non-compete clauses in employment contracts on the labor market. The DOJ held its workshop on September 23, 2019, while the FTC recently held its own at the top of the year, on January 9, 2020. The purpose of the FTC workshop was "to examine whether there is a sufficient legal basis and empirical economic support to promulgate a Commission Rule that would restrict the use of non-compete clauses in employer-employee employment contracts."

Why the FTC now wants to regulate in the employment space is not readily apparent apart from attempting to capitalize on a low-hanging fruit populist issue concerning the overreporting of some companies allegedly using non-competes with low-wage workers.