Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice reiterated its strong
message to the business community: Be very careful with no-poach
hiring agreements.
DOJ unsealed criminal charges on Thursday against a former
director of global engineering services at Pratt & Whitney
(Mahesh Patel). According to DOJ, Patel and executives of Pratt
& Whitney's suppliers allegedly agreed not to recruit each
other's engineers and skilled workers. DOJ has warned companies
that these types of agreements may unlawfully limit employee wages
and constitute an illegal restraint of trade under Section 1 of the
Sherman Act.
DOJ's recent acceleration in criminal
prosecution of no-poach agreements has considerably raised the
stakes. This year alone, the DOJ has brought three criminal cases
against (i) Surgical Care Affiliates, (ii) Ryan Hee and Advantage
On Call, as well as (iii) DaVita, Inc. and its former CEO Kent
Thiry for no-poach agreements, and, in the latter two cases,
corresponding wage
