ANALYSIS: ‘No-Poach’ Cases Still Grappling With Big Questions

Antitrust lawsuits challenging “no-poach” or “no-hire” agreements among employers are gathering steam. These agreements, in which businesses that otherwise would compete for the same pool of skilled labor agree not to do so to keep wages down in their shared labor market, can violate the antitrust laws.

But since federal enforcers brought the first federal civil no-poach cases in 2010, involving highly skilled workers of some of the country’s biggest technology companies, we’ve learned surprisingly little about the outlines of these labor market claims from private civil lawsuits. And although the use of these agreements can be treated as a ...