The Federal Trade Commission has officially ended its effort to enact a nationwide ban on non-compete agreements, marking the death of one of the Biden administration’s most ambitious labor initiatives and ensuring the continuation of the practice for radio talent.
On September 5, the FTC voted 3-1 to dismiss its appeal in the Fifth Circuit, effectively killing the rule before a court-imposed deadline.
Originally announced in April 2024, the rule would have prohibited most employer non-compete agreements with limited exceptions for senior executives earning more than $151,164 annually.
The rule’s collapse follows US District Judge Ada Brown’s 2024 ruling that the FTC lacked the statutory authority to impose such a sweeping prohibition. Republican commissioners had voted against the rule when it was first approved, citing federal overreach.
The dismissal renewed partisan tensions. Democratic Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, who remains in legal limbo due to litigation over her firing, accused the Trump administration of favoring corporate interests over workers. She pointed to the 26,000 public comments filed during the rulemaking process, noting that 25,000 supported a ban. Slaughter said abandoning the rule meant millions of workers were left bound by what she called “draconian noncompete agreements.”
Within the radio industry, the ban was vocally supported by air talent, whose in-market options are largely regulated by non-competes.
Republican Chairman Andrew Ferguson countered that the Biden administration’s FTC pursued only four non-compete cases in four years, settling three just before issuing the proposed ban. He said the new leadership would replace “hollow rhetoric in press releases” with targeted enforcement against anticompetitive practices.
Non-compete agreements remain valid and enforceable under existing state laws, continuing to give radio companies a tool to protect investments in on-air personalities, sales staff, and management. The Society for Human Resource Management, which had opposed the ban, said early in the legal fight that the courts would reject the FTC’s authority, a prediction borne out by the dismissal.
While the broad ban is dead, the FTC signaled it may still pursue targeted enforcement in cases deemed anticompetitive.
There are so few people affected by non-competes, what’s there to regulate? Air staffs are pretty thin.
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