States Add to ‘Fire Hose’ of Noncompete Issues Vexing Employers

Companies’ ability to block employees from going to work for a competitor keeps getting narrower and less legally certain, as state limits on restrictive employment contracts spread alongside federal scrutiny.

Minnesota just became the fourth state to ban virtually all employee noncompetes, and a slew of others have recently considered following suit. The bans add to a diaspora of limits that states have enacted over the last decade and continue to expand, many of them aimed at banning noncompetes for low- or middle-income workers or restricting their use in specific professions, like healthcare.

Although it lacks the nationwide reach of ...