AGG Talks: Antitrust and White-Collar Crime Roundup - Inside the World of No-Poach Investigations and Indictments
#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®
Trade Secret / Restrictive Covenant 2022 Year In Review (Fairly Competing, Episode 19)
Class Action | Eleventh Circuit Reinstates No Hire Antitrust Claims Against Burger King
Taking the Pulse, A Health Care and Life Sciences Podcast | Episode 100: Marguerite Willis, Nexsen Pruet Attorney
The Latest on Antitrust Compliance
III-42-The New Overtime Rule and Antitrust Issues With Your Non-Competes
Employment Law This Week®: Employee Mobility
II-31- The Changing 9 to 5 From 1980 to Today
Employment Law This Week®: Criminal Prosecution of Anti-Poaching Agreements, EEOC Publishes 2017 Data, Organizational Changes at NLRB, NYC’s “Cooperative Dialogue” Requirements
II-26 – Superbowl Concerns, Tax Reform/MeToo, Restrictive Covenant Crimes, and Expanded Religious Discrimination Theories
On February 26, 2025, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson directed the agency to form a new “Joint Labor Task Force” that will focus on enforcing federal antitrust laws to protect competition in labor...more
Four days before President Trump took office, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) (together, “the Agencies”) under the Biden administration released their “Antitrust Guidelines for Business...more
On January 16, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued “Antitrust Guidelines for Business Activities Affecting Workers” (2025 Guidelines). The 2025 Guidelines aim to “promote clarity and...more
In the final days of the Biden administration, the FTC and DOJ jointly issued antitrust guidelines on business practices that impact workers that replace the 2016 Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals, which...more
In the closing days of the Biden administration, antitrust law enforcers issued cautions to employers about conduct that could draw criminal charges against them. One is the use of restrictive non-disclosure agreements that...more
On Jan. 16, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission jointly issued new Antitrust Guidelines for Business Activities Affecting Workers, replacing the 2016 Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource...more
Historically, enforcement of noncompete agreements has been a subject of state law, not federal law. States have taken many different approaches to the agreements. A few states have enacted laws that ban the enforcement of...more
Corporates and deal teams should pay careful attention to drafting non-competes and other restrictive arrangements as UK, EU, and US regulators step up enforcement. Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are placing...more
Can non-compete agreements lead to criminal fines—or even jail time? Yes, they can. That is because violating the Sherman Antitrust Act can result in criminal charges, not just civil liability....more
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on January 5, 2023 a proposed ban on non-competes across the United States. With large global employers considering the implications of the proposed rulemaking, we reached out...more
Following up on an earlier blog post outlining the United States Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) increased regulatory action against non-compete agreements in employment contracts, a view across the pond reveals that...more
Updated as of January 31, 2023- The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) proposed a rule (the “Proposed Rule”) that would prohibit companies from imposing post-employment noncompete agreements. If enacted, the Proposed Rule...more
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
Compared to Q1 and Q2 of 2022, Q3 was relatively slow with respect to trade secret legislation and significant restrictive covenant awards and/or case law. Still, and as described below, two new statutes require a company’s...more
The current labor market is fraught with challenges for employers. In the wake of the COVID-19 market disruptions, the demand for employees, especially for experienced or highly trained employees, far exceeds the supply....more
In July of 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14036, which affirmed the executive branch’s policy to enforce antitrust laws. Two aspects of the Order relate directly to employment law...more
2021 saw significant activity by both the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in 2021. The DOJ, for example, finally followed through on its 2016 warning/threat to investigate and potentially...more
New York Attorney General Enters into Settlement Prohibiting “No-Poach” Pacts in Title Insurance Industry - New York Attorney General Letitia James recently entered into a settlement agreement with a national insurance...more
Takeaways - ..The Biden administration’s recent executive order takes a hard line on limits to employment mobility, such as non-compete agreements. ..No-poach agreements—companies agreeing not to recruit each other’s...more
On Friday, July 9, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14036, Promoting Competition in the American Economy, which includes—among 72 initiatives aimed at enhancing competition in the US—a directive encouraging the...more
The Antitrust Division has warned companies that it would bring criminal indictments against companies that enter into illegal no-poach or wage-fixing agreements. The Antitrust Division has now put its money where its mouth...more
A group of 18 state attorneys general (the “AGs”) recently filed comments with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in advance of a series of hearings centered on changes to antitrust and consumer protection enforcement in...more
For centuries employers have maintained a strong interest in trying to protect their most valuable asset, their key employees, from solicitation by and loss to other employers, especially competitors. As a result, “no...more
In managing workforces, particularly when addressing employee turnover, employers often find themselves facing issues regarding how best to safeguard their confidential business information and how to protect their...more
Even in the absence of an agreement to fix compensation, simply exchanging competitively sensitive information could serve as evidence of an implicit illegal agreement. On October 20, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and...more