Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
A free market requires a free labor market, and yet many of the politicians who claim a free market as a central component of our democracy actively work against the formation and maintenance of a free labor market.
A free labor market means workers are free to work for the companies they want to work for, doing the kind of work they want to do, but many companies have been using things like non-compete agreements and anti-poaching restrictions to keep workers from leaving to work for competitors.
The problem with such restrictions is that a labor market in which employees have more options is a more competitive labor market. When employees have the option to leave to work for another company that’s offering them more money, they have the opportunity to either leave their current employer in favor of higher wages or to stay and negotiate higher wages with their current employer. More freedom means more bargaining power, but companies have been actively working to restrict that freedom – and by extension, that bargaining power.
Anti-poaching restrictions have become the latest method companies have used to try to keep employees right where they want them. Fast food restaurants, in particular, have been using anti-poaching clauses in their contracts with franchisees in order to make sure franchisees don’t poach employees from each other. Such clauses usually forbid franchisees from hiring applicants who are current or recent employees of the parent company or any of its other franchisees without the express permission of the current or previous employer. Continue reading ›