Tagged: FTC

Employment

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission Votes to Ban Non-Compete Agreements, But the Issue is Far From Settled

Early last year, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) proposed a rule banning non-compete agreements nationwide. Yesterday, the FTC voted 3 to 2 in favor of adopting this rule. The FTC’s newly adopted rule bars for-profit employers from entering into new non-compete agreements with employees, including highly compensated and executive employees. Existing non-compete agreements with senior executives are still enforceable under the new rule, but employers must, by the rule’s effective date, notify all other employees with non-compete agreements that those agreements are unenforceable. The rule defines a “senior executive” as a worker who was in a policy-making position and earns at least $151,164 per year. The rule does not apply to agreements...

M&A

Recent Hart-Scott Rodino Developments

Canadian companies engaged in M&A transactions with connections to the United States should be aware of recent changes to the rules under the Hart-Scott Rodino (HSR) Act. On February 2, 2021, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the annual adjustment of the thresholds that trigger premerger reporting obligations (and the mandatory waiting period) under the HSR Act. The new thresholds will apply to transactions closing on or after March 4, 2021 (that is, 30 days after publication of the announcement in the Federal Register). This year, for the first time in a decade, the thresholds decreased. You can find a detailed discussion of the recent developments here. In addition, the FTC and Department of...