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The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) ban on noncompete agreements was supposed to take effect on September 4, but a Texan court has postponed its implementation by siding with the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that seeks to block the rule. Back in April, the FTC banned noncompetes, which have been widely used in the tech industry for years, to drive innovation and protect workers' rights and wages. A lot of companies are unsurprisingly unhappy with the agency's rule as NPR notes, Dallas tax services firm Ryan LLC sued the FTC hours after its announcement. The US Chamber of Commerce and other groups of American businesses eventually joined the lawsuit. "Noncompete clauses keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism," FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said when the rule was announced. They prevent employees from moving to another company or from building businesses of their own in the same industry, so they may be stuck working in a job with lower pay or in an environment they don't like. But the Chamber of Commerces chief counsel Daryl Joseffer called the ban an attempt by the government to micromanage business decisions in a statement sent to Bloomberg. "The FTCs blanket ban on noncompetes is an unlawful power grab that defies the agencys constitutional and statutory authority and sets a dangerous precedent where the government knows better than the markets," Joseffer said. The FTC disagrees and told NPR that its "authority is supported by both statute and precedent." US District Judge Ada Brown, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, wrote in her decision that "the text, structure, and history of the FTC Act reveal that the FTC lacks substantive rulemaking authority with respect to unfair methods of competition." Brown also said that the plaintiffs are "likely to succeed" in getting the rule struck down and that it's in the public's best interest to grant the plaintiff's motion for preliminary injunction. The judge added that the court will make a decision "on the ultimate merits of this action on or before August 30."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/texas-court-blocks-the-ftcs-ban-on-noncompete-agreements-150020601.html?src=rss
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Microsoft is set to pay $14.4 million to resolve a case alleging retaliatory and discriminatory practices against California workers who took protected leave, such as family care, parental, disability and pregnancy leave. The Civil Rights Department of California (CRD) launched an investigation into Microsoft in 2020, looking into whether the tech giant violated laws such as California's Fair Employment and Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The proposed agreement is subject to court approval. CRD claimed that workers who took protected leave "received lower bonuses and unfavorable performance reviews that, in turn, harmed their eligibility for merit increases, stock awards, and promotions." The California Department also alleged that Microsoft "failed to take sufficient action to prevent discrimination from occurring, altering the career trajectory of women, people with disabilities, and other employees who worked at the company, ultimately leaving them behind." Microsoft's payment will go toward workers impacted from May 2017 until the date of the court's approval. The company must also retain an independent consultant for policy and practice recommendations, ensuring that managers don't use protected leave as a determinant when deciding rewards and promotions managers and HR will need to undergo specific discrimination training. The independent consultant will also work with Microsoft to confirm that employees have a straightforward method to raise complaints if they feel taking protected leave has influenced their standing in the company. Furthermore, the independent consultant must provide an annual compliance report reflecting Microsoft's following of the agreement. "The settlement announced today will provide direct relief to impacted workers and safeguard against future discrimination at the company," Kevin Kirsh, CRD's director, stated. "We applaud Microsoft for coming to the table and agreeing to make the changes necessary to protect workers in California."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-agrees-to-14-million-california-pay-discrimination-settlement-140016567.html?src=rss
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I've recently accepted the fact that I am, and always will be, a pen-and-paper kind of gal. When it comes to writing, nothing does it for me quite like the act of scrawling by hand. Im more creative, less distracted and more emotionally invested in what Im doing than when I type on a keyboard. But over the last decade or so of writing professionally, I've become disconnected from writing by hand. I spend most of my time hunched over a laptop, and have unwittingly conditioned myself into writing almost exclusively in this way for the sake of efficiency. While thats undoubtedly what works best for the day-to-day demands of news blogging (I mean, how else could we do it?), my shift away from notebooks has killed my will to do any creative writing outside of work. These days, every time I crack open a laptop to write in my off-hours, it feels like a chore. But what also feels like a chore is typing up pages upon pages of handwritten text after dumping all the words in my brain out onto paper. This burden is what first got me looking into digital notepads; since many of them can convert handwritten notes to text files, theyre kind of the best of both worlds. For a while, though, none of the available options really spoke to me the reMarkable 2 and other E Ink tablets are just too big for my taste. Then, Ratta came out with the Supernote Nomad, and I was sold. The Nomad is perfectly compact. With a 7.8-inch screen, its more like the size of an ereader, meaning I can toss it in a mini-backpack and bring it with me everywhere and I do. My Nomad arrived in May (I ordered the $329 Crystal version, because Im a sucker for a transparent shell) and I've been using it just about every day since. I was cautiously optimistic about what actually writing on this thing would be like, but it exceeded all of my expectations. It took only a few minutes to get used to, which mainly came down to me getting over my somewhat irrational fear that the pen the one thats made for this device would scratch the display. (It was expensive, okay?) The tablet doesnt come with a writing implement, and I shelled out a little extra for the $89 Heart of Metal pen, a decision Im super happy with. Its nothing like a stylus, but instead has a sharp, precision tip like a real pen hence my initial hesitation. The experience of writing on the Nomad is so close to the feeling of actually using a pen and paper. Theres texture to it, something you dont get with the smooth experience of writing on an iPad. I write pretty fast, and haven't had many issues so far with lagging. It comes with a bunch of writing templates, including lined paper with a few different ruling size options, and you can create your own templates or download those made by others. I haven't messed around much yet with custom versions, though, because the built-in offerings have been adequate for free writing, note-taking and organizing my life. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the handwriting recognition tool has been able to convert my chicken scratch to typed text. My handwriting is fine at best, but when I'm working fast, things can get pretty messy. It's not 100 percent accurate itll throw in the occasional string of gibberish but the device mostly gets it right. You can export the converted writing as a .TXT or .DOCX file, and have the Nomad format it for you. This requires some cleaning up, but its never a huge job. Supernote devices can sync with a number of different cloud storage providers, like Dropbox and Google Drive (though Google is currently not working for me, so thats one point against it), along with the companys own cloud. You can lock individual files and folders behind a passcode, too, which I really appreciate. Nothing haunts me more than the thought of someone reading through my unfinished drafts, some of which arent destined to ever see the light of day. And Ive finally ditched my paper planner something I never thought would happen. Supernotes built-in monthly calendar and weekly planner have finally given me an alternative that actually works for me. One of the main things thats kept me using paper planners is that I like to doodle as a way to make important events or tasks stand out, and the Supernote Nomad allows me to do this. The only thing I miss is using stickers and pens of different colors, but Ill survive. In the last month or so using the Supernote Nomad, Ive probably gotten more writing done (the for me kind) than I had in the last year. It just doesn't trigger that dreaded youre at work feeling that my laptop and even other distraction-free writing devices, like the Freewrite Traveler, have. Eventually, I hope to get around to drawing and reading on it as well, but for the moment, all I want to do on this thing is write because I'm having such a great time doing it. And before you ask yes, I wrote this article on my Nomad.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/im-finding-the-joy-in-writing-again-with-a-little-help-from-the-supernote-nomad-130048878.html?src=rss
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