Insights

On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “the Agency”) voted 3-2 along partisan lines in a special public meeting to adopt the “Non-Compete Clause Rule” (the “Final Rule”), which will prohibit most employee non-competes with retroactive effect, except existing non-compete provisions of “senior executives.”  The Final Rule will also ban future non-compete agreements, including for senior executives, with limited exceptions.  The rule will not become effective until 120 days after publication in the Federal Register, and covered employers will be required to comply with the Final Rule by that effective date, which could come as early as August this year.  By the FTC’s own estimate, this ban could affect up to one-in-five American workers.

Crowell & Moring previously reported that new paid leave laws would be in effect at the start of 2024 in Chicago and Illinois. (For more information, see Crowell & Moring’s December 1, 2023 Alert, “New Year Will Bring Changes to Paid Leave in Illinois and Chicago”). The Chicago City Council has now amended its Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Substitute Ordinance (“Amended Chicago Ordinance”), making a number of changes, including delaying the effective date to July 1, 2024. Cook County also followed suit, acting to bring its laws in line with the new Illinois and Chicago paid leave requirements, with the passage of the Cook County Paid Leave Ordinance (“Cook County Ordinance”) at the end of last year.  

Chicago and Illinois will soon join the growing number of states that require employers to provide employees with paid all-purpose leave, rather than, for example, leave that can only be used as paid sick or safe leave. The new laws are Chicago’s Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance (“Ordinance”) and the Illinois Paid Leave for All Workers Act (“Act”). Under the new Ordinance, Chicago-based employees may accrue twice as much paid leave (including, now, all-purpose leave and paid sick and safe leave) than under the City’s prior ordinance. And for the first time, Illinois employers outside of Chicago will be required to provide their employees with up to 40 hours of all-purpose paid leave each year.

Even as a return to in-person work has become more commonplace, remote work and geographically dispersed teams scattered across multiple states continue to pose legal, HR, and administrative hurdles for many businesses. Among other requirements, businesses must ensure compliance with employment laws, which are often highly detailed, vary widely from state to state (including regarding what nexus gives rise to compliance requirements), and prone to frequent changes.

Remote work – and expanding the traditional work locations into new jurisdictions – is a hot topic for businesses across industries, rife with unanticipated pitfalls and risks.