CVS Health viewed Amy Bricker as a potential CEO. But she won’t be going to the health care conglomerate anytime soon.
A federal appeals court has ruled Bricker, a former high-ranking executive at Cigna, cannot jump to CVS because it would violate her noncompete agreement that she signed while at Cigna. The appeals court’s decision backs up what a district court had previously ruled.
The case is a prominent example of why the health care industry, and corporate America writ large, does not want noncompetes to go away. In April, the Federal Trade Commission approved a nationwide ban on most such agreements, which prevent workers from moving to other jobs, but companies and corporate lobbying groups have already sued to squash the ban.
