Noncompetes are "an unfair method of competition" and violate US law, FTC says. //

The US Chamber of Commerce said it is considering a lawsuit against the FTC if the noncompete ban is adopted. "We don't believe they have the statutory authority," Sean Heather, the group's senior VP for international regulatory affairs and antitrust, told The Wall Street Journal. "They know they are on very tenuous ground." //

The FTC also disputed employers' arguments that noncompete clauses are needed to protect trade secrets. The "record to date shows that in California, North Dakota and Oklahoma—three states in which employers can't enforce noncompete clauses—industries that depend on trade secrets and other key investments have still flourished. This shows that employers have other ways of protecting these investments," the FTC said.