Fierce Competition Podcast | Antitrust Collusion in Labor Markets: Enforcement Trends on Both Sides of the Atlantic
#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
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
Whilst not traditionally a focus of the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”), the UK’s labour markets now form one of the CMA’s strategic priorities, as outlined in its 2023 to 2024 Annual Plan....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
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: This week, we examine the decision of a Texas district court to strike down an Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandate on preventive medical services and look at the U.S. Department of Justice’s...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
It has been a tumultuous year for the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and its recent no-poach criminal prosecution strategy. No-poach agreements, which are arrangements between companies that place restrictions on the hiring...more
A healthcare staffing firm in Nevada just pled guilty to conspiring with a competitor to fix wages for school nurses and agreeing not to solicit each other’s workers – the nation’s first-ever successful criminal prosecution...more
On October 27, 2022, VDA OC, LLC, (VDA) a Nevada health care staffing company, pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition for the services of school nurses. According to the plea,...more
This summer the US Department of Justice settled with three poultry processors, Cargill Meat Solutions Corp., Sanderson Farms, Inc., and Wayne Farms, LLC. (U.S. v. Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. et al, 1:22-cv-01821 (D. Md....more
Key Points - As part of the antitrust agencies’ public commitment to investigate and prosecute competitive harm in labor markets, the DOJ Antitrust Division fined three major U.S. poultry processors and a data consulting...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
In what has commonly been referred to as the “Great Resignation,” nearly 50 million people voluntarily resigned from their jobs in 2021. The majority of those resigning sought a higher paying or better opportunity with...more
Last week, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division suffered two trial setbacks in its efforts to bring cases involving alleged anticompetitive conduct in labor markets. Despite these losses, we expect the Division to...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
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
Two weeks ago, the District of Colorado denied defendants’ motion to dismiss in a criminal case targeting agreements between competitors not to solicit (or “poach”) each other’s employees. United States v. DaVita Inc. et...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
On January 28, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its indictment of four owners or managers of home health care agencies for allegedly violating federal antitrust laws by conspiring to fix the rates paid to...more
Criminal antitrust is burning a path in prosecuting illegal wage-fixing agreements in labor markets. The Justice Department warned companies over five years ago and now DOJ is executing on its warning. Over the last two...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
Nationalizing Competitiveness and Noncompete Law: Criminal Antitrust and Federal Efforts to Curtail No-Poach and Noncompete Agreements is part five of BakerHostetler's six-part series, "The Emerging New Era for Noncompetes...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
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
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused upheaval across labor markets and resulted in what some have termed the “Great Resignation.” In the midst of these challenging labor market conditions, employers should be aware that the U.S....more