FTC, DOJ Issue HR-Related Antitrust Guidelines on Business Practices

(Editor’s Note: This is a developing story.)

On Thursday, Jan. 16, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) jointly issued antitrust guidelines for business activities affecting workers.

The guidelinesOpen in a new tab, which replace the 2016 Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource ProfessionalsOpen in a new tab, explains how both the FTC and DOJ assess whether business practices affecting workers violate the antitrust laws. As the guidelines state, business practices may violate antitrust laws when they harm competition among employers, which can lead to worse outcomes for workers and the broader economy.

According to the press releaseOpen in a new tab, the guidelines:

• Outline specific types of agreements or business practices that may violate the antitrust laws, such as the use of noncompetes or the sharing of information about wages among employers that compete for workers.
• Outline agreements and other activities that may lead to criminal liability, including agreements to fix wages or agreements not to poach employees.
• Explain that false claims about workers’ potential earnings may violate federal law.
• Provide information about how to report potential antitrust violations to the FTC and DOJ.

“The antitrust laws protect all Americans, including workers, from illegal monopolization, collusion and unfair methods of competition,” FTC chair Lina M. Khan said. “These antitrust guidelines provide clarity to businesses about the practices that can violate the law — from agreements between firms to fix workers’ wages to coercive noncompetes.”

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