McDonald’s Wins Bid to Toss Former Employees’ ‘No-Poach’ Lawsuit

McDonald’s Corp. won its bid to toss a lawsuit by two former employees over allegedly unlawful non-solicitation agreements, after the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said they hadn’t alleged the restraint was anticompetitive “in the relevant market.”

The plaintiffs’ claims, brought under Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, were analyzed under the “rule of reason,” meaning each plaintiff needed to allege that the restraint was anticompetitive in the market where she sold her labor.

Although the lawsuit was filed as a proposed class action, the court denied certification in July of last year, leaving just ...