A bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators proposed legislation Wednesday that would severely limit the ability of employers to enforce noncompete agreements with most employees.

Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Todd Young, R-Ind., reintroduced the Workforce Mobility Act, which would prohibit the enforcement of most noncompete agreements and empower the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Labor and workers to sue employers that use the pacts.

"Noncompete agreements are blunt instruments that crudely protect employer interests and place a drag on national productivity," the bill reads. "Enforceable non-compete agreements reduce wages, restrict worker mobility, impinge on the freedom of a worker to maximize labor market potential, and slow the pace of innovation in the United States."

The bill, which is co-sponsored by Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., was previously introduced in the House of Representatives in 2021. If passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law, it would prohibit employers from entering into or attempting to enforce noncompete agreements with almost every employee who affects commerce.

Carved out of that broad ban would be owners or senior executives of businesses. Those parties would be allowed to enter into noncompete agreements, so long as those pacts are tailored to restrict competitive activity in specific geographic areas and to expire after no more than one year.

Former partners in a dissolved partnership, too, would be allowed to enter into and enforce noncompete agreements, so long as that agreement prohibits competitive activity only in a specified geographic area.

The bill would empower the FTC and the DOL to investigate and prosecute employers that attempt to enforce noncompetes, with a statute of limitations of four years. The bill would also provide workers with a private right of action and empower them to sue ex-employers for damages caused by noncompetes, as well as reasonable attorney fees.

Last month, the FTC rolled out a proposed rule to effectively ban noncompete agreements. That proposed rule, which opponents have said misrepresents the use and effects of noncompete agreements, would declare those agreements unfair and unenforceable methods of restraining competition.

In a Wednesday statement, Murphy commended the FTC for its proposed rule, but said that legislation was a superior remedy for what he described as a major economic ill.

"It's ridiculous we let companies hide behind these agreements as a means to depress wages and stave off competition," Murphy said. "I'm glad the FTC has proposed a rule to ban the use of noncompetes, but Congress should go even further and pass our legislation to protect workers and support entrepreneurs."

Young, meanwhile, said in his own Wednesday statement that noncompetes "stifle wage growth … innovation, business creation and human freedom."