Cleveland Employment Lawyer Explains How Non-Compete Agreements Work

If you don’t like your current job or salary, chances are you’ll start looking for a new job with better pay. For workers with a non-compete agreement or clause in the contract, leaving is not easy. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that about one in five American workers, or about 30 million people, work under a non-compete agreement. Agreements do not allow an employee to leave for a competitor or start a competing business, usually within a specified geographic or specified period of time after leaving the job.

Non-compete agreements can protect a company from the loss of confidential information. Agreements are increasingly being used in a wide variety of areas, including low-income jobs. Opponents of the agreements say they stifle wages and competition for workers and disproportionately affect women and people of color in the workforce. On Wednesday, on Sound of Ideas, we’re going to discuss non-compete agreements with an employment law expert.

Later in the show, the Cleveland International Film Festival begins its 47th year. The festival will take place at Playhouse Square. This year, a new series will be presented among 199 short films. Homegrown: Future Visions is a collection of Midwestern stories documented by emerging BIPOC filmmakers presented by Firelight Media.

We end the show as the publisher and editor of the Chinese magazine Erie. The community newspaper celebrated its 20th anniversary last October and will be celebrated at Cleveland City Hall on Friday.

The newspaper, written primarily in Mandarin Chinese, covers events and people in the Asian American community in Cleveland and other areas.

Guests:
-Ann Marie AhernEsq, Director, Employment Group, McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman, Co.
-Chloe Walters-Wallacedirector of regional initiatives Firelight Media
-Hao ZhouDirector
-Ying Pupublisher, editor of the Chinese magazine Erie