Texas Federal Judge Bars FTC’s Noncompete Ban, Citing Overreach in Authority

A Texas federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Federal Trade Commission’s implementation of its rule banning employers from imposing noncompete agreements on their workers, stating the regulation exceeded the agency’s statutory authority. U.S. District Judge Ada Brown of the Northern District of Texas remarked that while the FTC possesses some authority to promulgate rules to preclude unfair competition, the court concluded after reviewing the text, structure, and history of the act that the FTC lacks the authority to create substantive rules through this method. Brown referred to the Federal Trade Commission Act as a “housekeeping” statute that does not provide the agency “substantive” rulemaking authority. For more details, read the article on Law.com.