“Despite all the discussion about the FTC banning non-competes, there still seems to be little recognition that non-competes for non-supervisory workers are effectively impossible to enforce at the moment due to the policies of the NLRB GC.”
The clause barred an insurance worker from any job “similar or competitive” with the employer for 12 months and from recruiting coworkers away for 24. Judge Sarah Karpinen ruled both illegal because a worker who can’t get another job in town won’t risk organizing. The employer had also fired a union salt and now owes him his job back with backpay. Non-competes were never about trade secrets. They were about keeping workers quiet.