South Florida businesses play waiting game with new FTC ban on ‘noncompete’ agreements

There have been times when Michael Pappas, CEO  of The Keyes Co., the sprawling South Florida real estate firm, has wondered about the longevity of his broad roster of salespeople.

“We had thousands of agents,” he said, “and when I was younger I used to go to sleep and hope the next day they all showed up.”

Pappas spoke this past week in the context of a new federal ban on employee noncompete agreements imposed by the Federal Trade Commission, which says it acted to foster more job mobility among employees nationwide.