When Competition Meets Labor: The Washington Attorney General’s Initiative to Eliminate Franchise No-Poaching Provisions

In January 2018, the Washington Attorney General launched an initiative to eliminate no-poach clauses in franchise agreements nationwide. These particular no-poach provisions were covenants in franchise agreements that restricted employee mobility among locations within the same system. By restricting franchise entities’ ability to hire or recruit new employees, no-poach provisions decreased competition for the labor of franchise employees. This decrease in labor competition had the potential