1 min read

Reminder: Minnesota Non-Compete Ban Takes Effect on Saturday, July 1

As we previously reported, Minnesota will soon become only the fourth state (along with California, Oklahoma and North Dakota) to ban non-competitors. The state’s new law renders void and unenforceable all covenants not to compete entered by employees or independent contractors on or after July 1, 2023. The only exceptions are noncompetitive agreements relating to the sale or dissolution of a business. A “covenant not to compete” is defined in the statute to exclude non-disclosure and non-solicitation provisions, and the law states that no other provisions in an agreement containing a non-compete shall be affected. The law also prohibits employers…
5 min read

The NLRB Finds Unlawful Confidentiality and Non-Disparagement Provisions in Severance Agreements: Non-Disparagement, Non-Disclosure, Non-Allowed

On February 21, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) continued its aggressive application of the National Labor Relations Act (“Act” or “NLRA”) to workplaces without union representation and lessened the value of severance agreements for all employers by finding it unlawful for an employer to merely proffer a severance agreement that includes broad non-disparagement and confidentiality provisions to an employee. in Mclaren Macomb, the Board held that a severance agreement that contained a confidentiality clause and a non-disparagement clause was unlawful because, in the Board’s view, these provisions impermissibly infringe on employees’ rights under the Act. Specifically,…
4 min read

The Defend Trade Secrets Act and How it Differs from State Trade Secret Laws

The Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) was enacted in 2016. The DTSA allows an owner of a trade secret to sue in federal court when seeking relief for trade secret misappropriation related to a product or service in interstate or foreign commerce, and does not preempt any state law. A goal of the DTSA is to “provide a single, national standard for trade secret misappropriation with clear rules and predictability for everyone involved.” S. Rep. No. 114-220, at 14 (2016). For the majority of the time, this goal is upheld. Aside from establishing a relation to a product or service…