(LibertySons.org) – In April, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted to ban noncompete agreements in the United States. These contracts are designed to prevent workers from leaving their current positions to join the competition and take their skills with them when they go. The ban passed with a 3 to 2 vote but faced legal challenges before it was implemented.
That same month, ATS Tree Services, LLC sued the FTC to block the ban from going into effect in August. Pacific Legal Foundation Attorney Josh Robbins, who represented the plaintiff, stated that Congress needed to give the FTC the power to “rewrite the employment contracts of millions of Americans” — it did not. Instead, he said the commission was “attempting to invent new powers” and called on the court to stop the measure. On July 23, US District Judge Kelley Hodge rejected the notion and refused to block the FTC ban.
The federal judge said the commission already has the power to ban anticompetitive practices, making the ban enforceable and within the FTC’s wheelhouse. She said the plaintiff’s arguments in the suit were basically “without merit,” and if “Congress intended to limit” the commission’s “rulemaking authority,” it would’ve completed that task sometime over the last 100 years.
Robbins said he was “disappointed” by Hodge’s decision but vowed to continue fighting what he referred to as the “FTC’s power grab.” The commission’s ban is estimated to affect about 30 million people in the US.
However, that wasn’t the only suit regarding the ban, as the US Chamber of Commerce also sued the FTC in April. The group claimed the commission had no constitutional or statutory authority to pass such a ban. In early July, US Federal Judge Ada Brown temporarily blocked the ban from going into effect — an order that directly opposes Hodge’s decision. She said the FTC overstepped its authority.
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
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