Tucson business owner weighs in on FTC ruling on noncompete agreements [Video]

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Derek Dooley owns Tucson Tattoo on Grant and Oracle. He’s been tattooing for years, and left his first tattoo shop under a noncompete agreement.

It’s an agreement between an employer and employee in a contract that prevents a worker from taking on a new job or starting a business oftentimes within a certain time frame after they leave a job.

“I just wasn’t making enough money where I was at and so I had another opportunity,” Dooley said.

Now that Dooley owns his own shop, he doesn’t make his employees sign noncompetes.

“If somebody’s unhappy and they want to go somewhere else, I’m not going to try and keep them,” he said.

RELATED: FTC votes to ban ‘noncompete’ agreements for most employees

Dooley said he doesn’t know anybody with a noncompete in the tattoo industry, so he said the recent Federal Trade Commission ruling might not make a difference …