Detroit Local Legislative Notice

Posted

Michigan is among the states with “non-compete” laws that allow unfair provisions in broadcasters’ employment contracts.

Currently employment contracts can include a “non-compete” clause that allows an employer the right to restrict former employees from seeking subsequent employment with a competitor for as little as six months to several years within a large geographic area.

Affected broadcasters are faced with the choice of either moving away from the geographic area where they are best known and where their families consider home or leaving their chosen professions.

Non-compete provisions that prohibit an employee from working in their chosen profession are fundamentally unfair and have been banned in other states, such as Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Arizona and the District of Columbia and most recently New York.

Two bills were recently introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan State Senate to address this issue.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU THAT WORKED SO HARD TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN, BUT ITS ONLY HALF THE BATTLE – THE REMAINDER OF THE HARD WORK BEGINS NOW!

House Bill 5750 – The bill is sponsored by State Rep. Fred Miller and co-sponsored by 20 House Representatives. The bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep. Mark Meadows, the bill's co-sponsor. Call your representative today to ask them to support the bill when it goes to a hearing and comes to the floor for a vote.

Senate Bill 1068 – Sponsored by Sen. Raymond E. Basham. This bill was referred to the Committee on Commerce and Tourism.

In an effort to help ban non-compete clauses in broadcasters personal services contracts, we need you to contact your house representative and the senate legislators and ask them to support the bills and hold a hearing. Click here to find your representative in the State House and State Senate.

If you or anyone you know has been affected by non-competes, please contact AFTRA immediately. We need broadcasters that have been subjected to non-competes to testify at the upcoming hearings. The dates have not yet been set.

AFTRA Partners