#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
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
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
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
A Ruling and Order issued on April 28, 2023 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in United States v. Patel, et al. ran the government’s losing streak to four failed trials seeking to criminally prosecute...more
In another blow to the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) efforts to criminalize “no-poach” and “wage-fixing” agreements, a federal judge terminated the DOJ’s latest “no-poach” case mid-trial before jury deliberations....more
Labor Market Meets Competition Law - In a labor market where companies are competing to attract and retain talent, the rising shortage of highly-skilled employees, high mobility, and high salary demands in certain market...more
The U.S. Department of Justice appears to be close to reaching a plea deal that would result in the nation’s first-ever successful criminal prosecution of a workplace-related antitrust matter – and it should send a clear...more
For this very special 100th episode of Taking the Pulse, we're joined by Nexsen Pruet attorney Marguerite Willis. Marguerite is a highly experienced litigator, and was featured on the cover of the latest Super Lawyers...more
In 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) announced that it would criminally prosecute no-poach and wage-fixing agreements for the first time. Indeed, the DOJ has backed this up by bringing a number of...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
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
It has been nearly a year since the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division (DOJ) made good on its promise to criminally charge companies that agree not to solicit each other's employees in so-called "no-poach"...more
Antitrust authorities are increasingly focused on anticompetitive agreements in the labour markets. In a recent speech held in Rome on 22 October 2021 ("A New Era of Cartel Enforcement"), EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe...more
Absprachen im Personalbereich rücken zunehmend in den Fokus der Kartellbehörden. EU Wettbewerbskommissarin Margrethe Vestager hat jüngst am 22. Oktober 2021 in einer Rede in Rom ("A New Era of Cartel Enforcement")...more
In October 2016, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued an eleven-page joint guidance document entitled “Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource...more
On July 9, 2021, as part of an executive order announced to promote competition and increase wages for workers, President Biden directed the Federal Trade Commission to consider two key areas affecting employers: first, “to...more
Introduction - A recent confluence of federal antitrust enforcement, state legislation and the Biden administration’s focus on labor markets has prompted many companies to revisit both their antitrust and human resource (HR)...more
More than four years after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) jointly released the Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals in 2016 (Antitrust Guidance), the DOJ has...more
With increased scrutiny of anticompetitive conduct in labor markets, companies need to adopt proactive compliance efforts to avoid prosecution. The US Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Antitrust Division recently announced...more
The U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division (DOJ) has made good on a promise it made over four years ago to criminally charge companies that agree not to solicit each other's employees in so-called "no poach"...more
The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently announced its first-ever criminal wage-fixing prosecution. The DOJ likely intends this case to be a wake-up call to companies, executives, and HR...more
Employers should assess whether their employment practices— including benchmarking, recruitment, and the sharing of information about employee compensation—comply with antitrust law requirements in the face of increased...more
Human resources ("HR”) departments have historically had little reason to hold antitrust law top of mind, as there was little in the way of enforcement activity concerning personnel issues. In recent years, however,...more
On April 3, 2018, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ” or “Antitrust Division”) filed an antitrust complaint against Knorr-Bremse AG (“Knorr”) and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation (“Wabtec”) for...more
On April 3, 2018, the Antitrust Division of the U.S Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had reached a settlement in a matter involving a “no-poaching” agreement between employers—the first such enforcement action...more