Death of the Non-Compete: The Rise of Restrictions on Restrictive Covenants in Employment Agreements
Learning Objectives:
- To update the status of laws and regulations either being considered or recently enacted to prohibit an employer’s use of non-competition agreements and other restrictive covenants to prevent key employees from jumping ship.
- To explain the difference between what the federal government is doing and what the states can do/have done.
- To help in-house counsel and HR practitioners of companies with multi-state employees avoid running afoul of existing and upcoming regulations.
- To provide practical advice to in-house counsel and HR practitioners regarding what can and can’t be put into an employment agreement to keep key employees from going to work for a competitor.
Kelly Dobbs Bunting
Kelly Bunting, Co-Chair of the Greenberg Traurig, LLP's Labor & Employment Practice's Workplace Compliance & Counseling Group, and member of its Artificial Intelligence Law Group, has considerable experience defending class and collective wage and hour litigation and misclassification claims, having defended employers in Title III ADA access litigation and litigation alleging race, sex, pregnancy, age, disability discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. She is deeply experienced in virtually all aspects of employment litigation, including wage and hour, labor, Title VII, harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination, non-competition and non-solicitation, trade secrets, SOX and Dodd Frank whistleblower claims, CEPA, ADEA, FMLA, NJLAD, and failure to accommodate issues. She has identified and managed employment issues in M&A deals and appeared before the EEOC, NLRB, and DOL in many states, as well as state agencies in DE, NY, NJ and PA. Kelly has represented many clients in mediation and settlement negotiations, and created HR and compliance training modules. She is regularly sought after as a workforce trainer for issues related to harassment and discrimination, FCPA compliance, good management techniques, and union awareness.
Kelly focuses much of her practice on international L&E issues, including employment/secondment contracts, data privacy, and global anti-corruption compliance. She advises clients on national and international handbook policies, procedures, and strategic HR issues, and provides day-to-day counsel in hiring, employee relations, employee discipline, and termination. She also conducts and advises on internal investigations.