Our Blog: Executive Counseling

As we’ve discussed before, the Federal Trade Commision’s attempt to ban most employee non-compete agreements in the U.S. has sparked legal challenges. There have been two notable appeals, one in Texas and the other in Pennsylvania, with both cases sharing similar claims about whether the FTC has the authority to issue such a ban. On July 3, 2024, a federal …

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Our previous post discussed the recent FTC rule banning non-compete agreements and the subsequent legal challenge it faced in Texas. Ryan LLC, a tax services firm in Dallas, sued to block the rule shortly after the Federal Trade Commission narrowly voted in April to ban non-compete agreements for most U.S. workers. Initially, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed its own …

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On May 7, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) made headlines by passing a new rule that aims to ban most non-compete agreements. This move is part of a broader effort to promote fair competition and protect workers’ rights. However, due in large part to news outlets inaccurately understanding and reporting on the rulemaking process, the initial excitement surrounding this …

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Happy New Year!  All of us at at the Firm took a couple of weeks off to enjoy our families and the holiday season.   We hope you did as well.

This first week of the year was looking a little light in workplace news until the end of the week when two interesting pieces of news dropped.

First, on Thursday the …

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In 2016, the Illinois legislature passed the Illinois Freedom to Work Act which banned non-competes, one type of restrictive covenants, for employees earning minimum wage or less.  If you recall, this Act was a direct response to the Jimmy John’s non-compete debacle.  In that instance, the Illinois Attorney General sued Jimmy Johns and the sandwich-maker relented.

While that Act was a good …

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The recent arbitration decision could backfire on employers.

The Supreme Court really stuck it to employees in their recent Epic Systems decision.  We’ve written about arbitration provisions in general here and why they can be bad for employees.   As if giving up your right to a jury trial wasn’t bad enough, arbitration agreements also sometimes contain class action waivers.  Employers …

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Illinois Freedom to Work Act Bans Non-Competes for Low-Wage Earners

Illinois lawmakers are on a roll with expanding employee rights. On the heels of enacting several important laws for employees in the past few months, including the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights Act and the Child Bereavement Leave Act, our State has continued this positive trend, this time with …

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The Legal Drawbacks of Quitting

To an employee in a bad work environment, quitting seems like an appealing option. Maybe a new boss has joined the company and is stifling your opportunity to advance, holding you to unrealistic expectations, subjecting you to unjustified performance scrutiny, or some combination of any or all of the above.  Maybe a coworker or supervisor is …

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Jimmy Johns says it won’t require low-wage workers to sign non-competes.

In follow up to my post from a couple of weeks ago, the Chicago Sun Times is reporting that Jimmy John’s has agreed to stop forcing their low-wage workers to enter into non-compete agreements.  Jimmy John’s required all sandwich makers and freaky-fast delivery drivers to agree not to work for another nearby …

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Employers take advantage of vulnerable employees by forcing them to sign unnecessary non-compete agreements

Time Magazine recently ran an article that discussed how non-compete agreements particularly hurt lower-wage earners.

Remember the 2014 controversy surrounding Jimmy John’s forcing their sandwich makers to sign non-compete agreements?  That ignited a discussion about the unequal balance of power between employees and employers and particularly …

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