Baristas and babysitters are now being caught up in non-compete clauses, says Assistant Minister for Productivity Andrew Leigh
Non-compete clauses act as "intimidation" and control people's choices when making decisions about changing jobs, acccording to Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities, and Treasury Andrew Leigh.
In a strongly worded speech making the case for the Federal Government's plans to ban non-compete clauses for employees earning less than the Fair Work Act's high-income threshold, Leigh said the clauses had gone from a narrow legal instrument to a broad restraint on labour mobility.
Leigh told the Recruitment and Staffing Industry Summit on Tuesday that non-competes were once used for senior executives plotting mergers but were now turning up in contracts for baristas and babysitters. An estimated 3 million workers are impacted by the clauses.
"Over the past decade, there has been a quiet proliferation of clauses that restrict workers from moving to new jobs. Non‑compete clauses, once confined to senior executives with access to sensitive commercial information, are now appearing in contracts for teachers, tradespeople, technicians and carers," he said.
"In some workplaces, the clause is inserted automatically, copied and pasted from an old contract without much thought. It may never have been discussed during hiring. Yet it can have lasting consequences for a person’s career.
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