These legal instruments, these restrictions on restrictive agreements, offer sufficient protection to workers who may be threatened by competition bans. If they are duly drafted and signed by workers at an appropriate level, they offer employers worthy of protection, who legitimately seek to protect commercial interests that can effectively be protected. A federal will to govern in non-competitions is therefore an unnecessary and simply unjustified exercise. The use of competition continues to receive increased attention. Companies should review all existing competition bans to improve or, if necessary, revise or remove and exercise caution in the development of new non-competition agreements. In this context, the recent joint statement by the agencies seems to mostly reiterate what the DOJ had already identified as an implementation priority and reminds employers in certain sectors – particularly those employing health care providers, first responders and other important service providers – that they can be subject to enhanced scrutiny. The statement also states that in addition to the effective non-taxation and wage-setting agreement between employers, the FTC can ”instill civil actions against companies and individuals who invite others to the cartel.” In practice, it is obviously not clear whether companies that regroup during the pandemic are considered as ”collaborative” as they are cooperating and whether the government will take drastic action against companies that, in order to quickly join the fight against COVID-19, use standardist or non-committed agreements, without any sign of a sawful attempt to hinder competition in the labour market. Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) have sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Joseph Simons to call on the FTC to take immediate action to protect workers harmed by the imposition and enforcement of non-compete agreements made by employers during the 2019 coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). and finalizing a rule that the FTC discussed earlier this year that would limit these agreements, protect workers and help promote competition. The past year has led to many efforts to restrict, restrict or prohibit the application of non-competition bans.

These efforts have taken place at both the national and federal levels. But in 2019, a renewed and focused effort at the federal level has also brought about changes in the non-compete clause arena. In the coming weeks, the FTC will assess the comments of the AGs as well as the comments of many other groups and individuals, as it will decide on the additional measures it will take, if any, with respect to non-competition measures. Stay on the line. When a company uses non-compete measures, there are also processes that can be used to identify and prevent problems. As always, all employers should continue to take into account the DOJ`s position with respect to non-theft and non-confidence agreements and ensure that these agreements are justified by legitimate business interests between cooperating employers. Organizations that employ individuals on the front line of the fight against the COVID 19 crisis should be particularly careful when it comes to implementing and enforcing such agreements – while the agency statement mentions medical staff, emergency workers, food and pharmacy workers, they should be read as examples and not as an exhaustive list. In the context of non-competitive agreements or other restrictive agreements between employers and their workers, all organizations, particularly those in the aforementioned sectors, should ensure that these agreements are proportionate and clearly justified by the protection of legitimate business interests before considering measures to enforce these agreements.