New York employers take note! The NY State Senate just passed a bill proposing a ban on employee non-competes in New York. The bill still must pass in the NY State Assembly and be signed by the Governor before it becomes law.
Notably, the bill explicitly carves out confidentiality and client non-solicitation provisions, which, however, have been the subject of recent scrutiny by the NLRB, as we have previously mentioned on PERKS.
Remedies for breach of the proposed new law would include injunctive relief, liquidated damages of up to $10,000 per violation, lost compensation, and attorneys’ fees and costs.
We will keep you updated on any developments regarding this significant proposed legislation, including answers to several open questions based on the current draft of the bill, including, for example, whether there will be exceptions to the ban, such in the sale of a business context, among other things.
For text of the proposed bill, see here: Bill Search and Legislative Information | New York State Assembly