A U.S. labor board official on Tuesday said requiring workers to sign agreements not to join competing companies is usually illegal, the latest bid by government regulators to rein in the practice, Reuters reported. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo in a memo to agency lawyers said so-called "noncompete agreements" discourage workers from exercising their rights under U.S. labor law to advocate for better working conditions. Abruzzo, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden, in Tuesday's memo said noncompetes violate labor law "unless the provision is narrowly tailored to special circumstances justifying the infringement on employee rights." Specifically, the pacts could prevent workers from resigning or threatening to do so to demand higher wages or other improvements at the workplace, Abruzzo wrote. The agreements may also be lawful when they only restrict individuals' ownership interests in a competing business, Abruzzo wrote.