The FTC ruled to ban virtually all non-competes nationwide in April 2024.[16] The agency estimates 30 million workers are bound by these clauses and only excludes senior executives from the ban on enforcing non-competes.[16] The agency believes that this will allow workers to find better working conditions and pay, since switching companies, on average, provides the biggest pay raises.[17] It also allows workers to leave abusive work environments and can prevent some doctors from having to leave medicine once they leave a practice.[17] The ban was put on hold by U.S. District Judge Ada Brown on July 3, 2024, but then upheld on appeal by U.S. District Judge Kelley B. Hodge on July 23, 2024.[18][19] On August 20, 2024, a federal court in Texas overturned the FTC’s ban on non-compete agreements, which was originally scheduled to take effect on September 4, 2024.[20] U.S. District Judge Ada Brown said the FTC did not have the authority to issue the ban, which she said was “unreasonably overbroad without a reasonable explanation.”[21] Victoria Graham, an FTC spokeswoman responded to the ruling by stating “We are seriously considering a potential appeal…”[22]