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ARTICLE · 03 FEBRUARY 2023

Competition Bureau Issues Enforcement Guidance On Wage-fixing And No-poaching Agreements

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On Jan. 18, 2023, the Canadian Competition Bureau (the Bureau) issued draft enforcement guidelines on wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements (the Guidelines) that describe...

CanadaEmployment and HR
Subrata Bhattacharjee
Subrata Bhattacharjee
Denes Rothschild
Denes Rothschild
Joshua Abaki
Joshua Abaki
Mohit Sethi
Mohit Sethi
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Overview

On Jan. 18, 2023, the Canadian Competition Bureau (the Bureau) issued draft enforcement guidelines on wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements (the Guidelines) that describe how the Bureau plans to enforce the new wage-fixing and no-poaching provisions (subsection 45(1.1)) of the Competition Act (the Act) that take effect on June 23, 2023. (Please see our previous article describing other broader changes to the Act that came into force last year on June 23, 2022.) These provisions will make wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements amongst any1 two or more unaffiliated employers2 criminal offences - and largely align the Canadian approach to no-poach agreements with that taken in the U.S.

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