I was under the impression that workers earning less than $151,164 annually usually don't have noncompetes anyway? Sounds like a lot of people will get bucketed into "senior executives" group. At least new noncompetes can't be created.
Non competes are everywhere. Famous case with Prudential Security[0] where they had everyone sign non competes, that includes minimum wage workers, and they enforced them, which put an outsized strain on the minimum wage workers in particular.
That's the motivation behind this rule. About one in six food outlets were demanding non-compete terms in employment, to prevent their employees from quitting to work for higher-paying outlets.[1] (Not McD and Burger King; mostly the smaller ones.)
I absolutely agree, but I make it a point to mention their limits of enforceability whenever I can because it is information worth spreading for those worried about one.