June 19, 2023 — 10.00pm
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Up to half of working Australians including childcare workers and yoga instructors are restricted by their employment contracts, holding back wages and productivity, groundbreaking research has found.
The research, commissioned by the federal government and compiled by the e61 Institute, found 22 per cent of people had some sort of non-compete clause in their contract while 26 per cent had signed a non-disclosure agreement relating to confidential information. Together with other restrictions, including on recruiting former workmates to join them at a new job, half of all people had experienced some restraint.
Competition Minister Andrew Leigh commissioned the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the federal Treasury in March to examine the effect of non-compete clauses, and this is the first part of the report.
Economists and some parliaments have become increasingly concerned about the prevalence of these clauses, which can restrict the ability of workers to move to a new job in a similar industry or for a period of time.
When first used, such clauses were aimed at protecting company secrets from being passed on to competitors. But research in the United States and elsewhere shows they have been extended into low-skill areas such as fast food cooking and...
The court found the relator did not allege specific reimbursement requests or facts linking challenged promotional statements to government payments. A Maryland federal district court dismissed a ...