MHB Partner Jesse Wing Leads Successful Effort to Ban Noncompetition Employment Agreements

MHB Partner Jesse Wing at the bill signing ceremony, pictured to the right of Gov. Ferguson

MHB is proud to have been on the forefront of advancing workers’ rights once again. On March 23, 2026, Governor Bob Ferguson signed House Bill 1155 into law, banning all employment-based noncompetition agreements for Washington-based employees and independent contractors across-the-board, at all wage levels. For more than a decade, MHB partner Jesse Wing spearheaded this legislation to keep Washington workers’ ability to work free from any unfair obstacle to changing jobs. Co-Sponsored by Rep. Liz Berry (D-Seattle) and Senator Derek Stanford (D-Bothell), this law incentivizes employers to improve working conditions and increase pay so their employees want to stay and curtails the widespread misuse of such agreements by employers. A new era begins next year, when this law becomes effective June 30, 2027.

This success in Washington follows on the heels of similar success in Minnesota, where MHB partner Sam Kramer helped the State to pass a ban on noncompete agreements in 2023.