Justice Department Investigating High-tech Hiring
According to The New York Times and others, the U.S. Justice Department is inquiring into potentially unlawful hiring practices at some of the world’s largest technology companies, including Apple, Google and Yahoo.
While the details are sketchy, the question at the heart of the investigation appears to be: Is it OK for companies to agree not to hire each other’s top talent? (Basically, a non-compete suit in reverse.)
While such suits are a bit rare, this wouldn’t be the first. In just one example, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor in 2001 authored a federal court opinion ruling in favor of engineers who complained that oil companies had conspired to decrease wages via anti-competitive hiring practices.
The Bottom Line: Employers should avoid BOTH (1) stealing employees (2) AND (2) agreeing not to do so.
Stay tuned to see how this plays out.
(Special thanks to Anita Santiago for bringing this case to my attention.)
