Comments on: Next Draft of Non-competition Legislation — Hearing on October 7

By: Will Brownsberger

Will Brownsberger — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:50:02 +0000

HI Gary, Thanks for your support. The bill is still in committee. We are still hopeful, but I can’t give you a timeline — it’s up to leadership to schedule and we don’t have any commitments yet.

By: Gary Hanna

Gary Hanna — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:39:36 +0000

Will, I have taken the time to review the bill and would like to know the status of where it is at now? The most current information I can find is 3 months old. I strongly support this bill. As a small business owner I have the opportunity to hire unemployed salespeople from a national competitor but they are all tied to an unreasonable nationwide non-compete. I look forward to your response.

By: Will Brownsberger

Will Brownsberger — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:35:03 +0000

Thanks for the support.

By: BertHalstead

BertHalstead — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:11:19 +0000

Will, I haven’t had a chance to study this particular bill, but I do generally feel that some employers have abused noncompete agreements and employees in these situations are in a very weak bargaining position. Establishing the kinds of guidelines that you describe sounds like a very positive step.

By: Will Brownsberger

Will Brownsberger — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:52:19 +0000

Thanks, Chris.

I take your point and I expect to look at the issues further. I do think it has to wait for the next round — we have enough on our hands with changes in one law. We can look at related areas after we see where we stand with this.

/w.

By: ChrisWren

ChrisWren — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:19:40 +0000

27L(b)(m) shall not apply to … covenants not to solicit employees of the employer

That makes me sad.

These covenants severely hamper employee mobility, and vibrant tech markets are all about employee mobility. Restricting the ability of people to find out about better opportunities is bad for our economy.

We no longer work for the same company for our entire career. We move from company to company. We no longer owe any one company the entirety of our professional development. It’s ethically questionable for a company to lay claim to something it didn’t create: the professional network of the employee.

If you cannot reverse the sense of that statement, then I hope you’ll take this up on the next round. So called “anti-poaching” agreements are far more damaging to high-tech workers than non-competes.