Labor pains: Taking stock of criminal antitrust enforcement against wage-fixing and no-poach agreements

In April 2022, juries in two separate criminal cases—both prosecuted by the Department of Justice's (DOJ's) Antitrust Division—alleged criminal antitrust violations arising from the defendants' employment practices and were DOJ's first prosecutions to proceed to trial on charges of criminal antitrust violations in labor markets. The cases shared similar verdicts, with both juries acquitting all defendants on all antitrust counts. Despite these setbacks, in the wake of the acquittals, the Antitrust Division vowed that it would not be deterred from its commitment to the criminal investigation and prosecution of antitrust violations in labor markets, and it has persisted in its efforts to drive legal doctrine on the application of antitrust laws in labor markets.

This article examines the developments in the Antitrust Division's criminal enforcement efforts in labor markets to take stock of where they stand more than a year removed from these initial trial losses. With the Antitrust Division's commitment to continued pursuit of these investigations and prosecutions against a limited body of precedent to date, the article also asks a number of still-unanswered questions that figure to be important to DOJ's future criminal antitrust enforcement efforts in labor markets.

Read the full American Bar Association Criminal Justice White Collar Symposium article, "Labor pains: Taking stock of criminal antitrust enforcement against wage-fixing and no-poach agreements."