Larry Del Rossi Discusses Non-Compete Agreements With New York Law Journal

In “NY Employment Lawyers Concerned With Bill Aiming to Ban Non-Compete Agreements,” New York Law Journal turned to labor and employment partner Larry Del Rossi for insight on a New York legislative bill aiming to void non-compete agreements and prohibit employers from seeking them.

Regarding the bill, Del Rossi said, “That’s a big, big, big-ticket item — the sale of a business context — that needs to be addressed, and it’s not.” He further stated that employment lawyers are going to have to counsel employers who have employees in New York carefully about what they do with their existing agreements and then what they’re going to do once the law goes into effect.

“At that point, you won’t be permitted to have a non-compete, but you would be permitted to have other restrictive covenants that are common in this arena, such as a non-disclosure of trade secrets or even a non-solicitation of customers with some caveats to that which this law carves out,” Del Rossi explained.

Noting that New York Governor Kathy Hochul has commented on supporting a non-compete bill but in the context of certain wage workers, Del Rossi added that he wouldn’t be surprised if Hochul injected that aspect into the bill. Overall, he said the bill in its present form should be paused, especially since the legislature has passed nearly 900 bills during this recent round.

The full article is available for New York Law Journal subscribers.