Quit Your Job for a Better One? Not if You Live in Idaho
We shouldn’t try to put new impediments in our way.”
At a hearing last year to debate the proposed law, one of those who showed up was
Mr. Sedrick, the Zenware chief executive who lost two engineers to TSheets.
Ms. Rubel, a Harvard-trained lawyer who does intellectual property litigation for the Silicon Valley-based
law firm Fenwick & West, described the proposal as “toxic to a good business ecosystem.”
“This bill was a giant thumb on the scale in favor of old established business at the expense of start-ups,” Ms. Rubel said.
“And anything that would make somebody not want to move here or start a company here is going to slow down our progress.”
Alex LaBeau, president of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, a trade group
that represents many of the state’s biggest employers, countered: “This is about companies protecting their assets in a competitive marketplace.”
Versions of this clash have played out nationwide, as state lawmakers consider whether to
make it easier or harder for companies to block workers from jumping to competitors.
Had Mr. Sedrick decided to sue his two departing employees, something Idaho’s new law made easier, those raises might never have happened.
