The FTC estimates about 30 million people, or one in five American workers, from minimum wage earners to CEOs, are bound by noncompetes. It says the policy change could lead to increased wages totaling nearly $300 billion per year by encouraging people to swap jobs freely.
While I sympathize with the potential to get intentionally ripped off for the training class, there’s got to be a better way. I don’t see how you define it well enough to not open it wide for employer scams. Your friend may be honest but what about the fast food place that mandates $3,000 “training” on flipping a burger? You have someone who can’t afford to pay it off so is trapped, but by training that is either unnecessary or currently “free”.
Given the employer has the power and the financial/legal advantage, you have to give this to the employee
In the above example, it seems like it would make sense to handle like a sign on bonus. I don’t have a noncompete, but there was like a two timeout that was pro-rated on my sign on bonus. Basically if I jumped ship before the two years was up I would owe something to my previous employer but less the closer I got to the two years. Tuition reimbursement worked in a similar way.
I understand there’s a lot of abuse, but for some specialties there just aren’t enough trained workers. This change is going to make employers think hard about things like diesel mechanic certifications and IT certifications. And like my friend, they’ll turn to making workplace loans for the cost.