While You Weren't Looking, the Biden Administration Ended Involuntary Servitude

[babylonsister]

While You Weren’t Looking, the Biden Administration Ended Involuntary Servitude
by Robert Reich | January 10, 2023 - 6:59am
— from Robert Reich's Substack

snip//

Some 30 million Americans are trapped by contracts that say if they leave their current job, they can’t take a job with a rival company or start a new business of their own. These clauses deprive workers of higher wages and better working conditions. In effect, they’re a form of involuntary servitude.

Last week, while America was fixated on Kevin McCarthy’s travails, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a sweeping new rule that would ban these non-compete agreements.

This is a big deal. The FTC estimates that such a ban could increase wages by nearly $300 billion a year (about $2,000 per worker, on average) by allowing workers to pursue better job opportunities.

Non-competes also harm the economy as a whole, depriving growing businesses of talent and experience they need to build and expand. As historian Margaret O’Mara noted (via Matt Stoller), California’s ban on non-competes was a major reason for Silicon Valley’s success.

more...

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-reich/104649/while-you-weren-t-looking-the-biden-administration-ended-involuntary-servitude

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. It hasn't yet! The rule is only proposed at this point.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. Not yet, but it's trying.

[Bayard]

3. Before I started my own company in the recruiting biz

People I worked for liked to wave a non-compete in peoples' faces. The truth is, they can't keep you from making a living in your chosen profession.

In 30 years in that industry, I never heard of any owner winning a case over a non-compete.

[tulipsandroses]

11. They absolutely can keep you from working - at least in my industry - healthcare

It’s a myth that non compete clauses are unenforceable. It might depend on the state.

Here is one case

On Oct. 8, 2020, three Wyoming nurses got a nasty shock: A judge ordered them to stop providing home health care to patients in the southwest corner of the state, where all three worked. Their previous employer, Best Home Health and Hospice, said the women had signed noncompete agreements. After they switched jobs, Best Home sued to enforce the contracts.

One of the nurses, Jennifer Brown, told me she had to commute more than two hours to find a job outside the noncompete zone. She had sole custody of her granddaughter, who was then just 1 year old. Brown struggled to find child care with hours long enough to accommodate the 12-hour workday created by her long commute. The new job also came with a big pay cut, from $36 per hour to $21.

“I burned through all my savings, and I got to the point where I had a roommate to pay the bills,” Brown, who is 47, told me in a phone interview. After about three months, she reluctantly moved to Pennsylvania, where she had family to help with child care. She has since moved to Michigan to work as an operating room nurse.
Not only did they take away my means to support myself—they took away my means to feed my granddaughter,” Brown told me. “As a nurse, I should never have that problem.”

https://slate.com/business/2021/10/noncompete-agreements-nurses-wyoming-ban-them.html

Even if the courts rule in your favor, nobody wants to spend months going to court and expensive court fees. I recall one case that a doctor won, it took a year and 75K. Not everyone had that kind of money.

[appalachiablue]

4. K/R Good riddance. I knew 2 people who had to do these & I thought it was awful. A real

estate agent and a private school teacher, some time ago.

[Farmer-Rick]

8. Yeah, I had an uncle who worked as a subcontractor for Walmart

After working for them for about 2 years, they made all their employees sign a non-compete clause.The subcontractor cleaned warehouses.

How can you stop people from cleaning? What propriety information did cleaners have? The subcontractor was soon fired by Walmart in the crash of 2008. The subcontractor reminded each of its former employees with a formal letter about the noncompete clause. Most everyone ignored them.

[JoeOtterbein]

5. K n R ! Thanks for posting!...nt

[brooklynite]

6. Before you cheer...

"proposed a new rule" does not amount to "ending".

[IronLionZion]

7. It's proposed. A lot of things get proposed. Let's not count our chickens before they hatch

Yes, non-competes need to go or at least be reformed so people can still work. They should also ban a lot of the outright lies employers tell their employees to string them along, like being blacklisted in their field or promises of raise/bonus right before a no-notice layoff.

Workers would like to know if they're about to be laid off but employers would like workers to keep working hard and not know.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

9. heard about this on NPR.. thanks for posting. Smirkingchimp still around?

smirking chimp was my go to place years and years ago.. during Dubya admin of course

[3Hotdogs]

10. Next --- get rid of hiring and purchase contracts that require agreement to mandatory binding

arbitration.

[Hortensis]

12. This is a huge step, in the works for years and finally advanced to this point.

Now will begin big battles in court. And congress? I don't know what house Republicans will do, but the FTC's rule-making authority is granted by congress, but presumably the authority needed is already in place. Thank goodness we control the senate and WH.

Until 20 years ago I was from California, which outlawed noncompete clauses, and it was a shock to suddenly discover these institutionalized limitations of rights and freedoms I'd taken for granted were normal in Georgia. And they were in almost all other states.

[tulipsandroses]

13. Everyone should be concerned. It also limits you the consumer

Let’s say you have a doctor, therapist, accountant, or whatever that you have seen for a long time. You may not be able to see them if they leave that organization. They may have to work far away, as in the article I posted above. Or not allowed to see you at the new employer if the contract says you can’t treat anyone from that business within 2 years.


Hopefully this comes to fruition. I’ve got a year left on my contract. It would be nice if this comes to fruition before then.

[RestoreAmerica2020]

14. Next amnesty and or citizenship to DACA ..que? They've earned it..signed up

..to resister came out of the shadows as well as their parents DAPA .children brought by their parents also know as dreamers have ....expectations hv come of age ..now have nericn born children of their own..they were educated in Us., Work, live in our communities..own homes, business pay takes at every level and pay into SS..many have health care thepught their place of work, or through businesses they own. It's time 10 yrs have past since Obama brought them to the forefront..so they have earned their citizenship and no they are not draining the economy, taking jobs from anyone and no they are not the highest demographics on welfare/ Medicaid. And not taking anything away from anyone who needs assistance ..yes they're families, individuals that do qualify yet they have paid onto the system..local, state and federal level programs by paying taxes.


Glenn Kirshner..suggest awhile back early on in Biden's admin..that Biden should sign 100 executive orders...and let Rs fight him in court. I

[Bev54]

15. Oh, that is not going to make the republicans and their donors happy. LOL

[Pacifist Patriot]

16. The headline should be amended.

We are just heading in to the public commentary stage on this rule. Unlike some rules that seem somewhat inevitable, the HR community has no idea how this one will go. Definitely a wait and see period.