Noncompete Pacts Violate Labor Law, Top NLRB Lawyer Says (1)

Noncompete agreements contained in employment contracts and severance agreements violate federal labor law except in limited circumstances, according to the National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer.

Such pacts are illegal when workers could view them as blocking their ability to quit or change jobs, thus chilling their right to band together to improve their working conditions, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo said in a memo issued Tuesday.

That denial of access to employment opportunity undermines workers’ bargaining power during labor disputes, according to the memo. It also limits their job options if they’re fired for trying to unionize or participating ...