Dive Brief:
- A powerful Massachusetts politician wants to make non-compete agreements binding only up to a year, according to media reports.
- Robert DeLeo, Massachusetts Speaker of the House, made the suggestion during a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce event this week. Non-compete agreements are perceived by smaller businesses as a way to drive both young talent and high-skilled workers to other states where non-competes are illegal.
- Apart from reducing the non-compete term to 12 months, DeLeo also says the state should eliminate non-compete contracts for lower-paid workers.
Dive Insight:
For employers, non-competes can be a double-edged sword. Large employers say they need them to protect their intellectual property if an employee ends up going to a competitor. But as noted, smaller companies say they make it difficult to keep workers in the state, and finding talent is hard enough already for smaller companies.
Jeff Bussgang, a general partner at venture capital firm Flybridge, told WBUR that the change would be welcomed. “I think the speaker articulated what many of us in the innovation economy have been saying for a number of years, which is that non-competes are restricting the free flow of talent and the flow of ideas and innovation,” Bussgang told WBUR.
