Reuters
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is expected on Tuesday to approve a rule that would ban agreements commonly signed by workers not to join their employers' competitors, which it says limit worker mobility and suppress their pay. The five-member FTC, which enforces antitrust laws and currently has a Democratic majority under President Joe Biden, is scheduled to meet later on Tuesday to vote on the rule first proposed in January 2023. The FTC, Democrats and worker advocates who support the rule say it is necessary to rein in the increasingly common practice of requiring workers to sign so-called "noncompete" agreements, even in lower-paying service industries such as fast food and retail.