Prime minister pledges to remove barriers to changing jobs, but employment lawyers want detail on how far the reforms will go.
Employees prevented from joining a rival business or starting one of their own could gain greater freedom to move jobs under legislation promised by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has accused employers of using non-compete clauses to hold back innovation. Speaking at the Innovation Nation Summit in Manchester today (9 October), Burnham pledged to ensure that “non-compete clauses will no longer be a barrier to hiring for our most promising start-ups and scaling firms”. However, he did not specify whether the government intends to ban the clauses altogether, limit their duration or restrict their use for particular workers.
A non-compete clause is a contractual restriction preventing someone from working for, or establishing, a competing business for a specified period after leaving their employer. It can therefore leave an employee unable to take another job in their field even after their employment has ended.
Burnham said: “I believe some businesses have gone too far in their use of restrictive practices such as non-compete clauses.” He compared his proposed reform with the “Bosman ruling for the innovation sector”, invoking the European football case which allowed out-of-contract players to move freely between clubs.
The announcement follows a Department for Business and Trade working paper published on 26...
A Wixom, Michigan, business accused of making false statements to obtain a loan has agreed to pay a settlement of just over $1.5 million after it was sued by the federal government, according to th...