Attorney General Ellison ends unfair labor practices at major auto services company

Valvoline ends non-compete agreements which banned employees from working at another oil change business within 100 miles for one year after leaving company

July 31, 2024 (SAINT PAUL) — Attorney General Ellison and a multistate coalition of six attorneys general today announced an agreement to end unfair labor practices at oil change and auto services company Valvoline LLC, Valvoline Instant Oil Change Franchising Inc., and VGP Holdings LLC (Valvoline). Valvoline required its hourly employees to sign non-competition agreements that prohibited them from working in the oil change business at any store within 100 miles of their Valvoline location for one year after leaving Valvoline. Valvoline also required its hourly employees to sign non-solicitation agreements that forbid them from soliciting current Valvoline employees or customers for one year after their employment with Valvoline ended. These unfair agreements placed an undue burden on workers and significantly reduced their future employment opportunities.

Under the settlement that Attorney General Ellison and the coalition reached today, Valvoline has stopped requiring workers to sign these agreements and will notify current and former employees who would have been impacted by the agreements that they are no longer in effect. If Valvoline materially violates the terms of the agreement in any of the coalition states, Attorney General Ellison can seek a $500,000 penalty.

“Far too many employers use overbroad non-compete agreements to stifle competition, keep wages low, and treat workers unfairly,” said Attorney General Ellison. “These non-compete agreements force workers to either put up with bad wages and working conditions, look for new jobs that are in their field but as much as 100 miles away, or accept nearby jobs outside their area of expertise. I am tired of workers being given nothing but bad options, which is why I am standing up to these unfair and unacceptable non-compete agreements. This settlement with Valvoline is a step in the right direction, and I encourage any Minnesota workers with complaints about non-compete agreements to contact my office.”

Valvoline used a non-competition provision that precluded all hourly Valvoline employees from working for or engaging in the automotive lubricants or quick lube business for one year after leaving the company. This barred workers from seeking employment within the industry at any location within 100 miles of their former Valvoline worksite. Valvoline employees were also prohibited from soliciting, hiring, or employing any Valvoline employee or taking away any Valvoline customers that the employee had a direct or indirect business relationship with for one year after terminating their employment. Hourly employees at Valvoline were required to sign these agreements in order to get their jobs.

Within 15 days, Valvoline will issue notices to all current employees and all former employees who stopped working at Valvoline within the past year that the non-competition and non-solicitation agreements are no longer in effect. This settlement will benefit nearly 300 current and former employees in Minnesota.

Joining Attorney General Ellison in negotiating this agreement were New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the coalition, and the attorneys general of Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.

Attorney General Ellison’s work to combat overbroad non-compete agreements is one step in a larger effort to recognize and push back against the stifling effect non-compete agreements have on trade. On May 16, 2024, Attorney General Ellison reached an agreement with Dolan Printing to release Dolan’s employees from an unfair and overbroad non-compete agreement.

According to the FTC, approximately 30 million American workers—nearly one in five Americans—are bound by non-compete agreements. In Minnesota, most new non-compete agreements have been banned since July 1, 2023, with the legislature’s passing of Minnesota Statutes section 181.988. However, even prior to the ban, non-compete agreements were long disfavored in Minnesota.

Workers with concerns or complaints about systematic violations of state and federal wage laws can contact the Attorney General’s Office through its online complaint form (available in Spanish or English). The Attorney General’s Office can also be reached by calling (651) 296-3353 (Metro area) or (800) 657-3787 (Greater Minnesota).