December 3, 2020
Practical Law Canada Competition (of which I am Lawyer Editor) has published a new Legal Update, which discusses the Competition Bureau’s (Bureau) recent statement on no-poaching and wage-fixing agreements between competing employers. Such agreements have increasing been the subject of debate following U.S. enforcement in relation to tech company no-poaching agreements, enforcement guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission and, in Canada, questions including by Parliamentarians whether grocery chain decisions to cut employee wages violated the federal Competition Act. Contrary to the guidance issued by U.S. antitrust enforcement agencies, Canada’s Bureau has taken the narrower position that no-poaching and wage-fixing agreements between employers can be challenged civilly under section 90.1 of the Competition Act but not criminally under section 45 of the Act. Below is an excerpt with a link to the full Legal Update.
____________________
On November 27, 2020, the Competition Bureau (Bureau) issued a statement setting out its position on the application of the Competition Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34 to no-poaching and wage-fixing agreements between employers (see Competition Bureau statement on the application of the Competition Act to no-poaching, wage-fixing and other buy-side agreements, Competition Bureau, November 27, 2020).
According to the Bureau, since the United States Department of Justice’s (DoJ) Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued guidance that they would criminally investigate naked no-poaching and wage-fixing agreements unrelated to any legitimate collaboration, the Bureau has also received growing interest from the Canadian legal and business communities as to the treatment of such agreements under the Competition Act.
The question of whether such agreements are illegal under the Competition Act was also recently raised by a Liberal Minister of Parliament (MP) in the context of major grocery chains’ decisions to cancel, on the same day, pandemic pay for their workers, which led to a Parliamentary hearing.
(…)
For the full Legal Update, see: Competition Bureau Reiterates Narrow Enforcement Position For No-Poaching and Wage-Fixing Agreements Between Competing Employers.
********************
SERVICES AND CONTACT
We are a Toronto based competition and advertising law firm offering business and individual clients efficient and strategic advice in relation to competition/antitrust, advertising, Internet and new media law and contest law. We also offer competition and regulatory law compliance, education and policy services to companies, trade and professional associations and government agencies.
Our experience includes advising clients in Toronto, Canada and the United States on the application of Canadian competition and regulatory laws and we have worked on hundreds of domestic and cross-border competition, advertising and marketing, promotional contest (sweepstakes), conspiracy (cartel), abuse of dominance, compliance, refusal to deal and pricing and distribution matters. For more information about our competition and advertising law services see: competition law services.
To contact us about a potential legal matter, see: contact
For more information about our firm, visit our website: Competitionlawyer.ca