McGlinchey Stafford, PLLC
MONTH-IN-BRIEF (Jul 2022)
Antitrust Law
Recent No-Poach Developments: Federal Enforcement Agencies Ally to Promote Labor and McDonald’s Latest Judicial Win
By Barbara Sicalides, A. Christopher Young, and Robert Austin Jenkin, II, Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP
Antitrust in labor markets remains a “hot topic” for government, business, and labor. The antitrust enforcement agencies, consistent with the Biden administration’s “Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” continue to push the use of the antitrust laws to enhance the mobility and bargaining power of employees. On July 26, the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to strengthen the agencies’ partnership through greater coordination in information sharing, coordinated investigations and enforcement activity, training, education, and outreach. Similarly, on July 19, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission entered into a separate MOU with the NLRB “outlin[ing] ways in which the Commission and the [NLRB] will work together moving forward on key issues such as labor market concentration, one-sided contract terms, and labor developments in the ‘gig economy.’”