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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 professionals, reinforcing that competition laws apply equally to wages paid to employees as they do to prices for goods and services. Companies and individuals should take note of this development, update their trainings and compliance programs as appropriate, and recognize that wage fixing could lead to federal criminal prosecution and even jail time.
The Facts
On December 10, 2020, the DOJ announced that a federal grand jury indicted the former owner of a therapist staffing company for participating in a wage-fixing conspiracy. The indictment alleges that Neeraj Jindal and his co-conspirators agreed to fix prices by lowering rates paid to healthcare workers. For approximately five months in 2017, accord