#WorkforceWednesday: ACA Preventive Coverage Mandate Blocked, Another No-Poach Loss for DOJ, and Employers Prepare for the End of the COVID-19 Emergencies - Employment Law This Week®
Taking the Pulse, A Health Care and Life Sciences Podcast | Episode 100: Marguerite Willis, Nexsen Pruet Attorney
OVERVIEW - In a recent landmark decision, the UK Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") imposed a fine on sports broadcasting companies for fixing wages paid to freelancers. It is the first time that the CMA has issued...more
On April 14, 2025, a federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada convicted the operator of a home healthcare staffing agency of a criminal violation of the federal antitrust laws. ...more
DOJ scores first victory in criminal antitrust labor market trial - A federal jury convicted a former home healthcare staffing executive in Las Vegas for orchestrating a three-year wage-fixing conspiracy targeting...more
As previously predicted, the new year and change of administration in the U.S. brought a series of notable developments in criminal antitrust enforcement. Recent actions indicate that the new antitrust leadership in the...more
In April 2025, a Nevada federal jury convicted Eduardo Lopez, a home healthcare staffing executive, for fixing the wages of home health nurses. The conviction marks the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s (DOJ) first...more
On April 14, 2025, a federal jury convicted an executive in a wage-fixing conspiracy under the Sherman Act. This marks the first time, after many tries, that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has secured a conviction in a...more
A federal jury in Las Vegas has convicted Eduardo "Eddie" Lopez, a former executive of a home healthcare staffing company, on charges of wage-fixing and wire fraud. The conviction marks the first successful jury verdict for...more
On April 14, 2025, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) obtained a high-profile “wage-fixing” conviction under the Sherman Act against a former executive of multiple home health care agencies (“HHAs”). A federal jury convicted...more
On April 14, 2025, after a three-week trial, a federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada returned a guilty verdict on all six counts for Eduardo Lopez, a home healthcare staffing executive. Lopez was...more
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
After several unsuccessful attempts to convict a company or individual at trial for wage-fixing or a no-poach agreement, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division has secured its first conviction in a labor market...more
After many attempts, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ or Division) has scored the first guilty verdict on a wage-fixing case. For years, the Division has prosecuted wage-fixing and no-poach agreements with...more
It’s been two years since the Antitrust Division brought its most recent — and only pending — criminal case involving labor markets. The two-year pause may be telling. It could indicate that prosecutors are picking and...more
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
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
At the end of last year, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) secured a guilty plea for wage fixing, resulting in its first criminal conviction with Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter saying: “[t]oday’s guilty plea...more
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
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has suffered setbacks in recent months. Prior to these recent cases, DOJ’s Antitrust Division secured some significant trial victories, including Bumble Bee’s former CEO Chris...more
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
The Antitrust Division won a preliminary skirmish against two co-defendants who challenged the criminal indictment against them charging price-fixing in the labor market. District Court Judge Mazzant, in the Eastern District...more
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 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
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
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
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