About 1 in 5 American workers, nearly 30 million people, are bound by noncompete agreements, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Horror stories about companies using noncompete agreements to trap workers in middling jobs or punish them for taking their skills elsewhere for better pay prompted New York legislators to pass a bill last June that would ban noncompete agreements. "But the fact that I had to spend a year fighting off my former employer was just wrong.”A handful of states, including California, already ban noncompete agreements. Other states, including Minnesota and Oklahoma, have laws that void noncompete agreements if a person is laid off. Advocates for the bill argue that striking noncompete agreements will actually be good for innovation.

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Persons: Kathy Hochul hasn't, Richard Tatum, “, Tatum, Joe Biden, she’s, ”, Paul Zuber, Sean Ryan, ” Ryan, ” ___, Khan, Maysoon Organizations: Federal Trade Commission, New, Public Policy Institute, Business Council, New York City, Hochul, Democrat, Associated Press, America Statehouse News Initiative, America, Twitter Locations: ALBANY, N.Y, New York, California, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Florida, Texas, Silicon Valley