A Texas federal judge on July 3 partially blocked the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) rule banning worker noncompete agreements from taking effect this fall among a handful of employers, agreeing with business groups that the agency had exceeded its statutory authority in issuing the rule.
“The text, structure, and history of the FTC Act reveal that the FTC lacks substantive rulemaking authority with respect to unfair methods of competition,” Judge Ada Brown of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas wrote in her ruling.
