US: Inter-franchise no-poach agreements not antitrust violation says DOJ

The US Department of Justice has told a federal judge in Washington state that agreements between franchisees of the same brand not to poach each other’s workers do not violate federal antitrust law.

Justice Department lawyers filed a “notice of interest” in federal court in Tacoma, Washington on Thursday asking US District Judge Stanley Bastian to apply a “rule of reason” asking whether such agreements are reasonable on a case-by-case basis rather than finding that they are unlawful on their face.