Overview
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 criminal antitrust case alleging labor market harms. This case, coupled with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson’s February announcement of a Joint Labor Task Force, indicates that antitrust enforcement in labor markets will continue to be a significant focus under the Trump administration.
In Depth
WHY IT MATTERS
The DOJ and FTC announced, in 2016 guidelines, that they would treat labor market wage-fixing and no-poach agreements as per se illegal and subject to criminal prosecution. Until now, the DOJ had failed to secure a conviction in any of its criminal prosecutions brought under these theories, including:
- United States v. DaVita Inc, Case No. 1:21-cr-00229 (D. Colo.): Acquittal
- United States v. Surgical Care Affiliates LLC, et al., Case No. 21-cr-00011 (N.D. Tex.): Voluntary dismissal of the indictment
- United States v. Patel, et al., Case No. 21-cr-00220 (D. Conn.): Judgement of acquittal
The continued focus on labor markets is broadly relevant, so all companies should ensure they review their antitrust compliance policies and procedures considering the DOJ’s and FTC’s 2025 guidelines to minimize their antitrust risk.
THE CONVICTION
In United States v. Lopez, Case No. 2:23-cr-00055 (D. Nev.), a federal jury convicted a home health agency (HHA) executive of conspiring to fix the wages for home healthcare nurses in Las Vegas and for fraudulently failing to disclose the investigation during the sale of the company. This is the DOJ’s first successful criminal prosecution in a labor market antitrust case and indicates that labor markets will continue to be a key focus for antitrust regulators, with Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Gail Slater stating, “nurses here deserved better and, under President Trump’s leadership, they will be protected.”
From the tail end of the first Trump administration, through the Biden administration, and into President Trump’s second term, momentum for criminal antitrust enforcement in labor markets has been building, and there are indications that this will be a continued focus for the antitrust agencies. In 2016, the DOJ and the FTC released guidelines for human resources (HR) professionals that stated for the first time that the DOJ and FTC would treat “naked” wage-fixing and no-poach agreements among competing employers as per se illegal and subject to criminal prosecution. This was the first time the DOJ indicated to HR and legal professionals that labor market issues would be a potential focus of criminal antitrust enforcement.
After the release of these HR guidelines, the DOJ initiated investigations focused on alleged no-poach and nonsolicitation agreements. The federal enforcers tried unsuccessfully to secure convictions alleging wage-fixing and no-poach conduct, including in the healthcare space, such as the 2022 acquittal of DaVita.[1]
The jury conviction last week was the first such labor market conviction and also indicates the type of conduct juries may find warrants criminal liability. The DOJ brought the case after a grand jury indicted Eduardo “Eddie” Lopez, the owner of an HHA, in March 2023 and filed a superseding indictment in September 2023. The conduct at the heart of the conspiracy was a mutual agreement between competing HHAs to “stay within the same hourly rate.” In other words, the DOJ prosecuted wage-fixing, rather than only an alleged no-poach or nonsolicitation agreement. The indictment relied on “hot” text exchanges between executives of the several competing HHAs discussing their “agreed rates” for hiring nurses at their facilities.
The future of antitrust enforcement in labor markets was uncertain going into the second Trump administration, but it appears after three months of observation that the issue has staying power and consensus among current leadership at the antitrust enforcement agencies. In the waning days of the Biden administration, the DOJ and FTC announced new “Antitrust Guidelines for Business Activities Affecting Workers.” Because these guidelines, which replaced the 2016 guidelines, were released just days before President Trump’s inauguration, the future of enforcement of antitrust in labor markets was uncertain. However, Lopez’s conviction and subsequent statements from DOJ leadership make clear that labor market enforcement will stay on the DOJ’s criminal enforcement radar, with Assistant Attorney General Abigail A. Slater stating, “[w]age-fixing agreements are nakedly unlawful attempts at unjustly profiting off American workers … The Antitrust Division will zealously prosecute those who seek to unjustly profit off their employees.” This win also comes shortly after FTC Chairman Ferguson’s directive regarding the labor markets task force, where he instructed the constituent bureaus of the FTC to “form a Joint Labor Task Force,” responsible for investigating and prosecuting “deceptive, unfair, or anticompetitive labor market conduct.”
If you have questions about what this ruling could mean for your business, reach out to your regular McDermott lawyer or the authors of this article.
