By limiting economic freedom, the union group added, “non-competes leave hard-working Americans at the mercy of abusive employers, low wages, and poor working conditions.”
An attorney for the Texas AFL-CIO, Nina DiSalvo of Towards Justice, told Law360 on Monday that powerful corporations should not be allowed to trample basic freedoms or to sidestep “a free and fair labor market.”
“The Texas AFL-CIO brings ordinary people’s voices to a complex litigation and reminds us that the issues at play here are actually very simple: the freedom of working people to pursue their careers, serve their clients, and start new businesses,” DiSalvo said.
A group of 12 current and former local elected officials from Texas said in a brief on Friday that the FTC’s “extensive analysis” shows that noncompete clauses undermine small-business creation, innovation, healthcare and wages.
“They do so despite less socially harmful means of protecting employers’ legitimate interests, such as nondisclosure agreements and trade-secret protections,” the group said. “The FTC’s decision to adopt its rule was far from arbitrary or capricious — rather, it was a sensible response to a widespread practice.”
