Noncompete Ban’s First Legal Challenge Filed by Texas Tax Firm

A Texas tax services company beat the US Chamber of Commerce in filing the first legal challenge to the US Federal Trade Commission’s ban on noncompete agreements in employment contracts.

The FTC voted Tuesday to adopt a near-total ban on noncompete provisions that prohibit workers from switching jobs within an industry for a certain period of time. Such agreements affect roughly one in five American workers and are commonly used by businesses to protect trade secrets and other confidential information. Ryan LLC, a Dallas-based tax services provider, sued the FTC in the US District Court for the Northern District of ...