‘Say Yes To The Dress’ Hayley Paige: Noncompete Devastating

Earlier than you say “sure” to that dream job, you higher learn the nice print.

Noncompetes, which stop employees from beginning their very own companies in the identical business and dealing for a competitor for a set interval after the employment ends, may be devastating, says marriage ceremony costume designer Hayley Paige Gutman.

Gutman shared her testimony with a Senate financial coverage subcommittee on Monday, three-and-a-half years after the beginning of a noncompete authorized battle along with her former employer, JLM Couture, and three months after the U.S. Federal Commerce Fee announced a new rule banning noncompetes.

^{Hayley Paige. Photograph by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Photos for Runway Heroes}

Gutman was not allowed to work in marriage ceremony costume design for 5 years after leaving her employer due to the noncompete.

“I might begin over with a brand new title, I might open new social media accounts and rebuild, however I couldn’t work in my chosen craft,” Gutman mentioned.

The FTC estimates that round one in 5 People, or about 30 million folks, are underneath noncompetes. Based on the company, banning the agreements would add 8,500 new companies a yr and improve wages for the typical worker by $524 per yr.

The noncompete ban was set to take impact beginning September 4, however legal challenges might delay, and even cancel, its implementation.

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Opponents of the ban, nonetheless, say companies could benefit from noncompetes as a result of staff cannot use what they realized to start out rival corporations. The agreements additionally assist shield commerce secrets and techniques and retain staff for longer intervals.

In her testimony, Gutman detailed how she signed an employment contract with a noncompete clause in 2011, on the age of 25, with JLM Couture. 9 years later, JLM alleged that Gutman had violated the noncompete by utilizing the @misshayleypage social media accounts, which had greater than one million followers, to advertise different corporations with out JLM’s permission.

JLM also claimed that the corporate was the explanation for Gutman’s social media fame, and appearances on TLC’s “Say Sure to the Costume” and “Say Sure To America” actuality TV exhibits solely occurred as a result of Kleinfeld Bridal, the place “Say Sure to the Costume” is filmed, is one in every of JLM’s greatest purchasers.

“I spent each greenback I ever earned designing marriage ceremony clothes to battle for my proper to take action as soon as once more,” Gutman mentioned in her testimony, including later, “I need to exhibit how noncompetes function shamelessly on a one-way freeway: if we’re not limiting competitors amongst companies, why are we limiting it amongst people?”

@sheischeval

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♬ original sound – CHEVAL | Shoe Designer

Gutman and JLM in the end reached a settlement agreement in Might that gave her the rights to the “Hayley Paige” title and social media accounts. Gutman agreed to pay JLM $263,000.

Now a small enterprise proprietor, Gutman mirrored on her lengthy authorized battle in a June interview with the Impartial Enterprise Podcast.

“The factor you’re employed on works on you,” Gutman mentioned, in response to a query about recommendation she would give fellow small enterprise house owners. “The impediment is the best way.”

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