Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission said it intends to ban non-compete agreements, and hundreds of people have submitted comments on the proposed rule change. Non-compete terms bar workers from joining a competing business or starting their own for a set period of time after leaving a job. Chris White with Restaurant Opportunities Center United Michigan says more than 900 restaurants are part of Restaurants Advancing Industry Standards in Employment or ‘RAISE,’ an initiative dedicated to promoting fair wages, better benefits and racial and gender equity in the restaurant field.
“Employers are trying to cut down competition, but the restaurants we work with, in our RAISE program, are for expanding the industry. And we know that if we don’t do that, then the industry suffers.”
Teófilo Reyes with Restaurant Opportunities Centers United says non-compete terms rob workers of the freedom and power to move without restrictions to different employers within an industry or even start their own business.
“Because there’s been a labor shortage, wages are actually increasing. And so this is another tool that employers use to keep wages artificially low, because if you can’t move from your low-wage job to a higher paying job, that means that it keeps everybody’s wages a little lower.”
The FTC has just completed the public comment portion of its non-compete ban. The rule could change this fall. According to FTC estimates, the proposed rule would boost workers’ earnings across industries and job levels by $250 billion per year or more.
