Noncompete agreements between employers and their employees traditionally are governed by state law. But that didn’t stop the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) from recently filing a statement of interest encouraging a Nevada state court to consider federal antitrust principles to invalidate noncompete agreements between a large medical group and its physician-employees. Taken together with other recent actions by the president and federal enforcement agencies, the DOJ’s decision to file the statement signals a more aggressive approach to noncompete enforcement at the federal level.
