New York - Restrictive Covenants

TakeawaysA bill to ban employment non-competes for all but highly compensated individuals is being considered by the New York state legislature. Gov. Hochul vetoed a similar bill in 2023, and the latest proposal appears to respond to the veto memo.If passed, the ban will be go into effect 30 days af

New York City lawmakers are considering a measure that would make the city the latest jurisdiction to ban noncompete agreements between employers and their employees, after Governor Kathy Hochul in December 2023 vetoed a statewide ban passed by lawmakers.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed Senate Bill S3100A , a bill passed by both houses of the legislature in June, that would prohibit all non-compete agreements.

On December 22, 2023, Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed the bill New York lawmakers delivered to her, which proposed a ban of nearly all types of noncompete agreements in employment. In so doing, she called for modifications to the legislation that would protect “middle-class and low-wage workers” from n

On December 12, 2023, New York lawmakers formally delivered a bill to Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk for signature that would ban nearly all types of noncompete agreements in employment. The legislature and governor’s office are now reportedly in the process of negotiating “chapter amendments” to the

New York State recently enacted laws to further restrict the use of nondisclosure agreements in connection with resolution of employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims and extend the statute of limitations to file complaints with the state enforcement agency. The laws are aimed a

Executive Summary : New York employers who use separation agreements or settle claims of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation must ensure they comply with a new amendment to Section 5-336 of the New York General Obligations Law.

This month both the New York State (NYS) Senate and the NYS Assembly passed identical bills that effectively ban all noncompete agreements in the state of New York. If signed by Governor Kathy Hochul, the legislation would become Section 191-d of New York Labor Law, effective 30 days after its signi

The New York State legislature has passed a bill banning all non-compete agreements for all workers, regardless of their salary level or job function. The bill now goes to Governor Kathy Hochul.

Non-compete agreements may soon be unlawful in New York. The New York State Assembly passed A1278B on June 20, and the New York State Senate previously passed its counterpart bill, Senate Bill 3100A , earlier this month. If signed by the governor, the bill would amend the New York Labor

On June 20, 2023, the New York State Assembly approved one of two bills concerning non-compete agreements that the New York State Senate just recently passed. Bill No. S3100A, which would prohibit employers from using non-compete agreements, passed the Assembly and is on its way to the desk of Gover

The New York State legislature has passed a bill banning all non-compete agreements for all workers, regardless of their salary level or job function. The bill now goes to Governor Kathy Hochul.

Monumental changes to New York law on non-compete agreements appear imminent. On June 7, 2023, the New York State Senate approved two bills concerning non-compete agreements. The first, Bill No. S3100A, proposes a ban on all non-compete agreements, while the second, Bill No. S6748, proposes a limite

The New York legislature is considering significantly expanding the state’s deceptive trade practices law to cover “unfair” and “abusive” practices and to raise the minimum amount recoverable for proving a claim from $50 to $2,000. In addition, the bill (S.2407 and A.679) would authorize class actio

In an initiative that is virtually without precedent in New York, in the past two months (June 15, June 22 and August 4) Attorney General Schneiderman announced agreements with three separate companies in three different industries under which they each agreed to stop utilizing non-compete agreement

Executive Summary: The right to enforce a covenant not to compete may be lost when the employer first violates the terms of the same agreement, says a New York appeals court. In Fewer v. GFI Grp. Inc. et al., 124 A.D.3d 457, 2015 WL 176227 (First Dep't. Jan. 15, 2015), the Appellate Division coverin

In the latest chapter of an ongoing dispute between Aon Risk Services and Alliant Insurance Services (stemming from Alliant’s hiring of dozens of Aon employees and accepting millions in annual revenue from former Aon clients), on January 10, 2013, the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division

A conundrum employers face when protecting trade secrets is the obligation to identify the very secrets to be protected in litigation. A critical issue in the context of discovery is the extent to which trade secrets must be disclosed and identified by the plaintiff. When the secret is something as

New York’s highest court has ruled that a business seller may solicit and regain former clients for his new employer without incurring liability for improperly soliciting business under certain circumstances. Bessemer Trust Co., N.A. v. Branin, No. 63, 2011 NY Slip Op. 3307, 2011 N.Y. LEXIS 602 (A

Outdated information on a financial services industry recruiter’s database is not protectable as a trade secret where the company did not take adequate safeguards to protect the information and the information was available on the Internet, a federal district court in New York has ruled. Sasqua Grou