Bill bans employers from stopping workers from taking new jobs
H.R. 10215 — Workforce Mobility Act of 2026 · Filed by Scott Peters (D-CA) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Sep 1, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
The bill stops employers from using noncompete agreements. These contracts say workers cannot work for a rival company after they leave. The FTC and Department of Labor enforce the ban. Workers can also sue their employer if the employer breaks this rule. Employers must post a notice about the law.
Who it affects
Workers gain the right to take a new job at any company after leaving. About 1 in 5 workers are affected by noncompete agreements today. Employers can still protect their secrets and ideas with other tools.
One thing to notice
The bill has exceptions. Employers can restrict workers when a business is sold or when a senior executive gets a severance package.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Sep 1, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 1, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce and House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Education and…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- noncompete agreements — Contracts that stop a worker from working for a rival company after leaving.
- FTC — The Federal Trade Commission, a government agency that enforces trade laws.
- Department of Labor — The government agency that enforces laws about workers and jobs.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (17,461 characters) on Sep 7, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-22.
“Bill bans employers from stopping workers from taking new jobs” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr10215/simple Report an error