Gaming IndustryUS game devs celebrate as non-compete clauses, previously deemed ‘a trash way to keep the talent’, face a ban from the FTC—which would free up movement across the AAA industryWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Gaming IndustryUS game devs celebrate as non-compete clauses, previously deemed ‘a trash way to keep the talent’, face a ban from the FTC—which would free up movement across the AAA industryWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)
A non-compete is, in essence, a clause that dictates whether a worker can find employment (or create a product) that directly competes with their employer—even if they aren’t working for them anymore. Typically, these will last around six months to a year after the end of employment, but they can last longer.
“Noncompetes often force workers to either stay in a job they want to leave or bear other significant harms and costs, such as being forced to switch to a lower-paying field, being forced to relocate, being forced to leave the workforce altogether, or being forced to defend against expensive litigation.”
This is, in a word, huge. While one could make the argument that a non-compete helps prevent trade secrets from being cross-pollinated between companies, as the FTC points out, there are already trade secret laws and NDAs in-place available that can be legally enforced.
Workers usually just find themselves hamstrung, having to seek employment in other industries or face legal challenges. Asformer Blizzard employee Chris Sayerswrote in February of this year: “I said I cant survive for 3 months without pay, I have a mortgage, and they looked me in the eye and said ‘well, you probably shouldn’t have signed the contract then.'”
Not only will the FTC’s ban remove future non-competes, but it will also force companies to inform those under past non-competes that they “have to provide notice to workers bound to an existing noncompete that the noncompete agreement will not be enforced against them in the future.” The ban is retroactive.
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(Image credit: @ZaraVarin on Twitter)
(Image credit: @maxnichols on Twitter)
The ban itself will go into effect “120 days after publication in the Federal Register”, though it’s alreadyseeing challengesfrom various business groups that could see it kept in-transit “as the rule makes its way through the US court system”.
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