News & Analysis as of

Antitrust Violations No-Poaching Enforcement Actions

Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP

A Labor of Love: Trump DOJ Obtains First Guilty Verdict in a Criminal Labor Case

In October 2016, the Obama Administration announced that it would criminally prosecute no-poach and wage-fixing agreements among competitors for talent. Starting in December 2020, through the Trump and Biden Administrations,...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Sights and Sounds from the Antitrust Section’s 2025 Spring Meeting

Antitrust experts from across the globe convened in Washington, D.C. on April 2–4, 2025 to discuss new enforcement policies and share updates on current issues in antitrust. We provide the key highlights from numerous panels...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

New DOJ–FTC Antitrust Guidelines for Business Activities Affecting Workers: Key Changes and Practical Takeaways

While the original guidelines focused primarily on per se illegal wage-fixing and no-poach agreements, the 2025 Guidelines illustrate a significant expansion in enforcement, broadening scrutiny to compensation benchmarking,...more

Littler

Federal and State Authorities Bring Antitrust Enforcement to the Contingent Workforce Sector

Littler on

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and now state attorneys general, have set their sights on staffing companies in their evolving efforts to examine labor markets through an antitrust lens....more

K&L Gates LLP

DOJ Jettisons Its Last Criminal No-Poach Prosecution, but Antitrust Scrutiny of Labor Markets is Here to Stay

K&L Gates LLP on

Nearly seven years after first announcing its intent to criminally prosecute employers and individuals for anticompetitive conduct in labor markets, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ or Division) voluntarily...more

Epstein Becker & Green

DOJ Seeks to Dismiss Its Last Pending No-Poach Criminal Action

Epstein Becker & Green on

As we discussed earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) in recent years has brought numerous criminal prosecutions against companies accused of engaging in so-called “naked” no-poach agreements, i.e.,...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

DOJ Gives Up on Its Sole Remaining Criminal No-Poach Prosecution

Ballard Spahr LLP on

Summary - Following a string of unsuccessful prosecutions in the labor space, the DOJ Antitrust Division moved this week to dismiss its last indicted criminal no-poach case, which had been pending against Surgical Care...more

Quarles & Brady LLP

Seventh Circuit Rejects Dismissal of Franchisee No-Poach Clause Challenge

Quarles & Brady LLP on

In Deslandes v. McDonald’s USA LLC, issued August 25, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit overturned the dismissal of antitrust claims that challenged no-poach clauses in franchise agreements....more

The Volkov Law Group

DOJ Suffers Rule 29 Dismissal of Criminal Antirust No-Poach Case in Aerospace Industry

The Volkov Law Group on

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division has suffered setbacks in its precedent-setting criminal prosecution of no-poach agreements in labor markets.  The latest and perhaps most surprising defeat occurred when the...more

Morgan Lewis

Global Cartel Enforcement Report 2022

Morgan Lewis on

With a couple of notable exceptions, cartel fines were lower in most jurisdictions in 2022 than in the prior year—and well below historical norms. Fines in the United States—long the leader in cartel enforcement—were lower...more

Bilzin Sumberg

Eleventh Circuit Revives Putative Class Action Against Burger King for Violation of Federal Antitrust Laws Based on No-Poaching...

Bilzin Sumberg on

Arrington v. Burger King Worldwide, Inc., No. 20-13561 (11th Cir. Aug. 31, 2022) – In October 2018, a former line cook of a Burger King franchise restaurant in Illinois, filed a class action complaint in the District Court...more

Frantz Ward LLP

Unlocking the Handcuffs: Department of Justice Obtains Guilty Plea in “No-Poach” Hiring Agreement Case

Frantz Ward LLP on

The Department of Justice has claimed its first victory in attacking “no-poach” agreements after a Nevada staffing company pled guilty and was sentenced to pay $134,000.  The case arose out of a concerted effort by the...more

Perkins Coie

Antitrust Challenge to McDonald’s No-Poach Restriction Evaluated Under the Rule of Reason

Perkins Coie on

A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has held that an antitrust challenge to a “hiring restriction [that] prevented” plaintiff employees “from taking a better-paying position with a...more

Polsinelli

DOJ Faces Two Strikeouts in First Health Care Wage-Fixing and “No Poach” Prosecutions

Polsinelli on

On April 14, 2022, a Texas jury returned five not-guilty verdicts on six charges considered in the first federal criminal wage-fixing prosecution. A day later, on April 15, 2022, a Colorado federal jury entirely acquitted...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Antitrust Enforcers Continue March to Protect Labor Markets in Health Care and Other Industries

Epstein Becker & Green on

On January 28, 2022, a federal grand jury in Maine returned an indictment charging four managers of home health care agencies with participating in a conspiracy to suppress the wages and restrict the job mobility of Personal...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

MoFo Competition: Antitrust Shifts You Need to Know

“If adopted and implemented by the agencies, the measures [in Biden’s executive order] would amount to the toughest antitrust enforcement that we’ve seen in the U.S. in decades.” The award-winning women partners of...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

A MoForward Warning Comes True: No Poach Enforcement Hits the Defense Industry

Morrison & Foerster LLP on

At our annual MoForward event in October 2021, Lisa Phelan offered practical advice about avoiding U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) criminal antitrust enforcement of “no poach” agreements, predicting the defense industry...more

The Volkov Law Group

Department of Justice Does the Two-Step and Announces Criminal Conspiracy Charges Against Aerospace Executives

The Volkov Law Group on

When the Department of Justice warns businesses and individuals, everyone needs to listen and respond accordingly.  Starting in 2016, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division warned businesses that the Antitrust Division...more

Epstein Becker & Green

DOJ’s First Wage Fixing Indictment Survives a Motion to Dismiss Because Court Finds Wage-Fixing Agreements are Illegal Per Se

Epstein Becker & Green on

Within the last year, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) brought its first indictments alleging criminal wage-fixing conspiracies and criminal no-poach conspiracies among competing employers. In December 2020, DOJ indicted...more

The Volkov Law Group

HR and CCOs Watch Out!! — The Antitrust Division Doubles Down on Labor Market Criminal Cartel Activity

The Volkov Law Group on

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has targeted collusion in labor markets for criminal prosecution.  This was not unexpected.  Indeed, the Antitrust Division gave plenty of warning to companies that criminal...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Prominent Services Contractors Ensnared in No-Poach Class Action

Vinson & Elkins LLP on

For many federal government contractors, their skilled and experienced workforce may be their most valuable asset. A recent “ice breaker” settlement of a class action lawsuit, however, demonstrates the wrong way to protect...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

President Biden’s Executive Order on Competition Could Mean Broad Changes Across a Range of Industries

Foley & Lardner LLP on

On Friday, July 9, 2021, President Biden issued a sweeping Executive Order that could have far-reaching implications for businesses across a broad spectrum of industries. The Executive Order takes a government-wide approach...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Taboola the Latest Target of DOJ’s Aggressive Antitrust Scrutiny of Hiring Practices

The Department of Justice, Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) continues to investigate hiring practices in a number of industries for potential antitrust violations as part of its effort to scrutinize, and in some instances,...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

DOJ Brings First Criminal “No-Poach” and “Wage-Fixing” Prosecutions; New Focus on Labor Market Prosecutions

What happened? The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) announced that, on January 5, 2021, a federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment charging Surgical Care Affiliates LLC and its related entity...more

Cozen O'Connor

Antitrust Enforcers Lodge First Criminal Indictment for Violation of No-Poach Agreement

Cozen O'Connor on

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is carrying out its promise to prosecute illegal “no-poach” agreements between companies. Until last week, DOJ had brought only civil enforcement actions against companies that have allegedly...more

35 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 2

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide