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A federal grand jury in Texas indicted the owner of a therapist staffing company on wage-fixing charges on December 9. Although this is the US Department of Justice’s first criminal wage-fixing prosecution, the indictment underscores that enforcement agencies remain focused on policing these types of anticompetitive agreements that restrict competition in labor markets.
For the past few years, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have focused on bringing enforcement actions relating to the anticompetitive effects on employee mobility and labor markets. In 2016, the two federal antitrust enforcement agencies jointly issued Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals (Guidance), in which they announced an intention to take a “very active” approach to reviewing wage-fixing and no-poach agreements.[1] The Guidance further cautioned that if the DOJ “uncovers a naked wage-fixing or no-poaching agreement, the DOJ may . . . bring criminal, felony charges against the culpable participants in the agreement, including both individuals and companies.”