Antitrust Collusion in Labor Markets: Enforcement Trends on Both Sides of the Atlantic

Fierce Competition

Gone are the days when companies could simply agree with a handshake not to poach each other's IT staff. Today, violations in the labor market are receiving heightened scrutiny and are being addressed with greater severity. Host Bill Batchelor is joined by three Skadden colleagues to discuss the rapidly evolving enforcement landscape. Jim Fredricks, antitrust/competition partner in Washington, D.C., breaks down the U.S. prosecution strategy. Aurora Luoma, antitrust/competition partner in London, and Margot Sève, white collar defense and investigations partner in Paris, describe the environment in Europe. Tune in for valuable insights on why it is essential for clients to address labor law issues within their compliance programs.

💡 Meet Your Host 💡

Name: Bill Batchelor

Title: Partner, Antitrust/Competition

Specialty: Bill has 20 years of EU and U.K. competition law experience and focuses his practice on investigations, including abuse of dominance, cartels and vertical agreements.

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💡 Featured Guests 💡

Name: Aurora Luoma

What she does: Aurora has a broad practice covering key areas of competition law, including international merger control, antitrust investigations, state aid and sectoral regulation. She particularly focuses on complex global mergers in the EU and U.K.

Organization: Skadden

Words of wisdom: “We've seen the U.K. competition authority make statements that tie in enforcement in the labor market to wider policy priorities. So, in a recent speech, the CMA’s chief executive, Sarah Cardell, emphasized that well-functioning labor markets are widely recognized as an important driver of economic growth.”

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Name: Jim Fredricks

What he does: Drawing on over two decades of experience as an antitrust prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, Jim counsels and defends clients in all types of antitrust investigations and prosecutions, as well as other complex and multijurisdictional actions brought by government enforcers, including price fixing, bid rigging, market allocations, no-poach agreements, algorithmic pricing and criminal monopolization.

Organization: Skadden

Words of wisdom: “The United States is very clear in its position that wage fixing, no-poach are irredeemable in the same way as price fixing and customer allocations. And so, the per se rule applies, which means, as a matter of law, it's unlawful regardless of any justification that the participants may offer or whether there is any harm or not. And there's been some skirmishing on that issue, and DOJ has mostly won, but not completely.”

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Name: Margot Sève

What she does: Margot works on cases involving complex cross-border compliance and enforcement matters. These representations include the resolution of proceedings involving French and U.S. regulatory agencies and prosecutors relating to corruption, economic sanctions, money laundering, terrorism financing, market manipulation, financial fraud and competition laws.

Organization: Skadden

Words of wisdom: “The [EU] commission generally allows restricting the seller from hiring employees of a divested business for up to three years under certain conditions. And so, these are called ‘ancillary restraints’ because they are ancillary to the main agreement. So, standard non-solicitation covenants could also be justified in a cooperation agreement such as a subcontracting or consortium agreement. Even if criteria are met, the conditions are very strict.”

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Fierce Competition is a podcast by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, and Affiliates. This podcast is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be construed as legal advice. This podcast is considered advertising under applicable state laws.