Federal judge upholds FTC ban on noncompete agreements

A federal judge has rejected a tree-trimming company’s bid to block the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ban on noncompete agreements from taking effect.

The FTC issued a rule in April that would ban all new noncompete agreements and require companies to let current and past employees know they won’t enforce existing agreements, carving out an exception for senior executives covered by existing noncompetes.

Around 18 percent of the U.S. workforce, or 30 million people, are covered by noncompete agreements...