What's Next For DOJ's Labor Market Antitrust Enforcement After Two Acquittals

On consecutive days earlier this month, the DOJ Antitrust Division experienced early setbacks in two cases representing one of the Division's key priorities under the Biden Administration. These cases were the first-ever criminal jury trials alleging charges of collusion in labor markets.

On April 14, in the Eastern District of Texas, the jury in United States v. Jindal, et al.  delivered a not-guilty verdict for both individual defendants on charges of wage fixing, and a guilty verdict against one defendant for obstruction of justice. The defendants had been indicted a year earlier on charges of violating the Sherman Act by agreeing with co-conspirators to pay lower rates to physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in areas of North Texas. The judge had denied a motion to dismiss those charges, holding that wage-fixing conspiracies are per se violations of the Sherman Act akin to price fixing, that the per se standard does not unconstitutionally