Antitrust Enforcement of No Poach/Wage Fixing Agreements Has Accelerated: Managers and Human Resource Professionals Should be Aware of The Enhanced Criminal Penalties for These Types of Agreements

February 2022

Abstract

Historically, when it came to antitrust enforcement, human resource (now commonly referred to as the ‘Talent Acquisition or ’Human Capital’ ) professionals were usually last on the list to receive any sort of antitrust compliance training. All that should have changed in 2016 when the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (”DOJ”) released its first round of guidance for human resource professionals. For maybe the first time in the long history of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, the human resource arena became a target for antitrust lawsuits. While that 2016 DOJ shot across the bow did receive some notoriety, a relatively passive, civil enforcement track record kept the application of antitrust to employment issues on the back burner. Enforcement efforts , either civil or criminal, of labor market restraints are clearly now on the front burner of the FTC, DOJ, state attorney generals as well as private plaintiff counsel.

Author

R. Mark McCareins

General Counsel, Metals Service Center Institute, USA

R. Mark McCareins is the general counsel of the Metals Service Center Institute (www.msci.org). He also is a Clinical Professor in the Strategy Department of Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management where he teaches antitrust and business law. He practiced competition law with Winston and Strawn LLP for over thirty years where he was co-counsel for Respondent Spray-Rite Service Corp. in the referenced matter. He currently is a Clinical Professor in the Strategy Department at Kellogg.

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Antitrust Enforcement of No Poach/Wage Fixing Agreements Has Accelerated: Managers and Human Resource Professionals Should be Aware of The Enhanced Criminal Penalties for These Types of Agreements

Abstract

Author

Company

Metals Service Center Institute

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