FTC forces Rollins to drop noncompete pacts for 18,000 workers

The Federal Trade Commission finalized a consent order on June 22 forcing Rollins, Inc. to stop enforcing noncompete agreements against more than 18,000 current and former workers nationwide. The move landed as a blunt reminder that, even without a live federal ban, restrictive covenants are still being unwound company by company.

The FTC’s broad noncompete rule is not in effect and is not enforceable. The agency removed it from the Code of Federal Regulations on February 12, 2026, after court rulings had already blocked it from taking effect. That makes the Rollins case less about sweeping rulemaking than about targeted enforcement, where the terms inside one company’s contracts can still determine whether workers can move, negotiate, or launch a rival.

The FTC said Rollins typically bound workers for two years and within a 75-mile radius of one of its more than 700 U.S. locations. It also alleged the company imposed the restrictions on nearly all employees, gave them no extra compensation or other incremental consideration for signing, and in some cases sent hundreds of threatening cease-and-desist letters to former employees. Under the order, Rollins must stop enforcing the pacts and notify affected workers that they are free to compete, including by starting their own business.

FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson and Commissioner Mark R. Meador underscored that point in an April 15 statement, saying that "over 18,000 workers are free from the constraints of unlawful noncompete agreements." They also cast Rollins’ blanket use of the agreements as the kind of conduct that can draw antitrust scrutiny.

For monday.com engineers, product managers and sales teams, the lesson is practical. Restrictive language still shows up in offer letters, customer-facing roles and exit paperwork, especially when a job touches technical know-how, enterprise accounts or sales territory. At a company like monday.com, which reported 51,160,822 ordinary shares outstanding as of December 31, 2025 and filed its 2025 annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in March 2026, U.S. hiring, retention and equity exposure make that fine print more than a legal footnote. Companies that lean too hard on noncompetes can still create legal risk, reputational damage and a harder recruiting pitch, even before a worker ever signs.