#WorkforceWednesday: ACA Preventive Coverage Mandate Blocked, Another No-Poach Loss for DOJ, and Employers Prepare for the End of the COVID-19 Emergencies - Employment Law This Week®
Taking the Pulse, A Health Care and Life Sciences Podcast | Episode 100: Marguerite Willis, Nexsen Pruet Attorney
On April 14, 2025, a federal jury convicted an executive in a wage-fixing conspiracy under the Sherman Act. This marks the first time, after many tries, that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has secured a conviction in a...more
A federal jury in Las Vegas has convicted Eduardo "Eddie" Lopez, a former executive of a home healthcare staffing company, on charges of wage-fixing and wire fraud. The conviction marks the first successful jury verdict for...more
On April 14, 2025, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) obtained a high-profile “wage-fixing” conviction under the Sherman Act against a former executive of multiple home health care agencies (“HHAs”). A federal jury convicted...more
In October 2016, the Obama Administration announced that it would criminally prosecute no-poach and wage-fixing agreements among competitors for talent. Starting in December 2020, through the Trump and Biden Administrations,...more
On April 14, 2025, a federal jury in Nevada convicted a home healthcare nursing executive on one count of conspiracy to fix wages and five counts of wire fraud after a 15-day trial. The verdict represents the DOJ’s first...more
Despite the summer doldrums, cartel enforcers around the world had several notable enforcement actions and, perhaps more importantly, signaled a busy fall and winter. In the United States, the Department of Justice’s...more
What the FTC’s investigation of McKinsey means for consultants tasked to compare wages or pricing - On July 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it has issued inquiries to McKinsey & Co. and seven...more
2023 was a dramatic year for criminal antitrust enforcement in the United States. The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) garnered big wins: three convictions at trial,1 $267 million in criminal fines...more
Summary - Following a string of unsuccessful prosecutions in the labor space, the DOJ Antitrust Division moved this week to dismiss its last indicted criminal no-poach case, which had been pending against Surgical Care...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division — for the third time in the span of a year — recently failed to convince a jury that alleged agreements to fix or stabilize labor markets should be punished criminally. It...more
Antitrust practitioners from around the world gathered in Washington, D.C. the week of March 27, 2023, for a series of industry meetings, centered around the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s 71st Annual Spring...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division recently suffered another setback in its most recent effort to secure criminal convictions for labor-side violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Having finally secured a...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) lost its third jury trial in its mission to secure criminal convictions against companies and executives accused of labor-side antitrust violations on March 22, 2023, when a jury in Maine...more
DOJ Files FCA Complaint Against Major Pharmacy Retailer Based on Alleged Violations of Controlled Substances Act - On March 13, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it filed a complaint in intervention...more
Almost two years after indicting Ryan Hee for allegedly conspiring to allocate staffing and fix the wages of nurses, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. § 1), the government and Mr. Hee have entered into a...more
In 2022, antitrust authorities around the world were pursuing more investigations, bringing new types of cases, and making policy changes to spark even more enforcement actions. In the United States, the Department of...more
Last month, the DOJ finally secured its first criminal conviction for a labor-market antitrust offense. (Check here for our previous coverage of this prosecution trend.) VDA OC LLC (“VDA”), a healthcare staffing company,...more
Antitrust compliance programs that are tailored to a company’s culture, line of business, and competitive conditions have long been worth their weight in gold. But as 2022 draws to a close, a looming economic slowdown and an...more
In another example of the Department of Labor (DOJ) pursuing criminal anti-trust cases against employers throughout the country, on October 27th, 2022, VDA OC, LLC (formerly Advantage On Call or AOC), a healthcare staffing...more
A healthcare staffing firm in Nevada just pled guilty to conspiring with a competitor to fix wages for school nurses and agreeing not to solicit each other’s workers – the nation’s first-ever successful criminal prosecution...more
Key Points - As part of the antitrust agencies’ public commitment to investigate and prosecute competitive harm in labor markets, the DOJ Antitrust Division fined three major U.S. poultry processors and a data consulting...more
After a string of losses by the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (the “Division”) in no-poach and wage fixing litigations, including a wage-fixing antitrust case in the physical therapy industry in April, the...more
The U.S. Department of Justice appears to be close to reaching a plea deal that would result in the nation’s first-ever successful criminal prosecution of a workplace-related antitrust matter – and it should send a clear...more
In what has commonly been referred to as the “Great Resignation,” nearly 50 million people voluntarily resigned from their jobs in 2021. The majority of those resigning sought a higher paying or better opportunity with...more
For this very special 100th episode of Taking the Pulse, we're joined by Nexsen Pruet attorney Marguerite Willis. Marguerite is a highly experienced litigator, and was featured on the cover of the latest Super Lawyers...more