DOJ Unveils Hub-and-Spoke No-Poach Probe

Lisa Phelan spoke to Global Competition Review about the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) accusing a former aerospace engineering manager of overseeing a conspiracy amongst rival suppliers that allegedly agreed not to hire each other's employees.

According to Lisa, the DOJ's Antitrust Division will usually file a sealed criminal complaint instead of an indictment if they believe the defendant is a flight risk. The government must receive an actual indictment from a federal grand jury within 30 days, she said.

Lisa noted that this was the first criminal labor case the Antitrust Division has brought outside of the healthcare industry, and added that this is assistant attorney general Jonathan Kanter's first no-poach case, indicating that such matters will be a priority for the new chief.