More States Fight Back On Low Wage and Surprise Noncompetes

Once legislators woke up to the fact that employers were running amok with noncompete agreements, imposing them on sandwich makers and other low-level employees, some states took action. Here are some new state laws that limit noncompete agreements:

• Maine: The Act to Promote Keeping Workers in Maine, which went into effect this week, bans no-poach or non-solicitation agreements with other employers; prohibits noncompetes for employees earning at or below 400% of the federal poverty level, mandates pre-employment disclosure of non-compete agreements; says non-competes can't take effect until after one year after the employee is hired or 6 months after the employee signs the agreement, whichever is later; and imposes $5000+ fines for violations.
• New Hampshire: New Hampshire already required employers to provide a copy of a required non-compete agreement to potential employees before the employee accepted any offer of employment. Starting September 8, NH employers can't force low-wage employees, meaning “an employee who earns an hourly rate less than or equal to 200 percent of the federal minimum wage,” to sign noncompetes.
• Rhode Island: The Rhode Island Noncompetition Agreement Act, signed in July, and going into effect next year, will bar employers from entering into or enforcing noncompetes with hourly employees, undergraduate or graduate student interns, employees 18 or younger, and low wage employees (those employees whose annual earnings are not more than 250% of the federal poverty level).

Michigan has a bill working its way through the legislature limiting noncompetes. So do Vermont and Pennsylvania.

If you think sandwich makers and other low wage employees shouldn't be prohibited from moving on to better paying jobs, and that employers shouldn't be able to surprise new employees with noncompetes after they start, tell your state legislators to get with it and join the pro-employee movement banning low wage and surprise noncompetes.