Advocates Urge Biden Administration to Support and Enforce Comprehensive Ban on Non-Compete Agreements
Washington, D.C. — Eleven influential and cross-industry advocacy groups, led by the American Economic Liberties Project, today wrote to urge the White House Competition Council to direct federal agencies to use their relevant authority to support and enforce the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed ban on non-compete agreements where the FTC may not have jurisdiction.
“We need a whole-of-government approach to ensure all working people have the freedom to change jobs, negotiate for better pay, and start new businesses,” said Morgan Harper, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “The White House Competition Council should support the FTC’s proposed non-compete ban by encouraging every agency to use their authority to prohibit coercive non-competes in industries where the FTC may not have the power to do so.”
Non-compete agreements are one-sided arrangements that trap employees in lower-paying jobs and restrict their career mobility. They affect professionals at all levels, from corporate executives to franchise workers. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that banning noncompete agreements would increase workers’ earnings by nearly $300 billion per year. Despite the FTC’s recently proposed ban to do so, exemptions within the FTC’s jurisdiction may allow certain industries to continue imposing these coercive contracts on their employees.
The coalition of groups calls on the White House Competition Council to work collaboratively with federal agencies to fill in any gaps of the FTC’s jurisdiction and ban non-compete agreements in all sectors of the economy. As the letter argues, employees of financial institutions, airlines, utilities, internet service providers, oil and gas pipelines, railroads, meatpackers, and nonprofit healthcare systems should all have the same protections from these coercive employment contracts. By doing so, the Council can uphold President Biden’s commitment to promoting fair competition and ensuring a level playing field for workers across America.
On Tuesday, National Labor Relations Board General Council Jennifer Abruzzo helped to support the efforts to ban non-competes, issuing a memo that outlines how such agreements violate the National Labor Relations Act “unless narrowly tailored to address special circumstances justifying their infringement on employee rights.”
The coalition of groups, which represent anti-monopoly interests in agriculture to restaurants, include American Economic Liberties Project, Demand Progress Educational Fund, Economic Policy Institute, Farm Action, North Carolina Justice Center, Open Markets Institute, People’s Parity Project, Public Citizen, Restaurant Opportunities Center United, Revolving Door Project, Student Borrower Protection Center.
Read the full letter here.
Learn more about Economic Liberties here.
The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.