[whitej125]

Does this change a lot for many people?

This doesn't mean you can scurry off a just build a competing product/service to your existing employer. You probably also have NDA and/or IP agreements too.

> The Commission found that employers have several alternatives to noncompetes that still enable firms to protect their investments without having to enforce a noncompete.

> Trade secret laws and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) both provide employers with well-established means to protect proprietary and other sensitive information. Researchers estimate that over 95% of workers with a noncompete already have an NDA.

Trade secrets would generally include anything from code, approaches to problems, product roadmaps, customer lists, etc (so spans not only engineering... but also product, sales, etc).

[saagarjha]

You already cannot use trade secrets from your last job at a new role. That's in pretty much every single employment agreement, spelled out clearly. That does not mean you cannot go work for a competitor and do something new there.

[lotsofpulp]

Removing the risk of legal consequence simply for changing who you sell your labor to is a big change for many people.

[SoftTalker]

I've often wondered how often noncompetes get enforced/litigated.

I had to sign a noncompete once, in order to get a severance package when the company was going out of business. I asked a lawyer about it, who said don't worry about it, there isn't going to be anyone who will ever enforce it.

[MOARDONGZPLZ]

A buddy of mine worked in a niche industry and their noncompete didn’t allow them to go to competitors, even to do something different and in an arm of the competitor that was not directly competitive with the company. The company spent a lot of time and resources suing people and threatening litigation. Enough so that employees desire to leave and still work in the industry was chilled and the competitors in the industry started becoming very reluctant to hire from my buddy’s company.

It was pretty messed up and this rule fixes that awful situation.

[TheCleric]

Yes, as this eliminates the threat of lawsuit I've had made against me for just changing jobs (multiple times).

[kube-system]

Noncompete clauses have often been used by employers to scare their employees into thinking they'll be sued just for simply finding a new job at a different company.