An update on non poaching agreements between companies

[anonymous-user]

Those of you who don’t follow competition law might not have noticed a huge US class action in which various tech companies are accused of anti-competitive practices by (in summary) agreeing not to poach each other’s employees. Two points:-

(a) this could have implications here, as it appears that some UK based agencies may have been involved; and

(b) this highlights a potentially broader issue, namely that employment settlements which involve companies agreeing not to poach etc are potentially unlawful under EU or English competition law.

Whether this is so remains to be seen, but I mention it as many here work in tech sectors where such agreements are not uncommon.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB100014240527...


DRAT: typo in thread title. I wonder why PH does not allow non Mods to edit titles?

[johnfm]

What is 'oaching'?

It sounds painful...

[anonymous-user]

Oaching? It's the pain that occurs when your finger falls between the P and O keys on a QWERTY keyboard.


ou are ight onker, he its.

[anonymous-user]

Prevailing wisdom in English law, BTW, is that non poaching deals between companies are OK: Kores v Kolock is the old case on this. But, that was then, this is now.

[worsy]

It's common between customer and supplier but not aware that was the case between rival tech companies. Certainly in my line people move between the big outsourcers frequently.

[randlemarcus]

worsy said:

It's common between customer and supplier but not aware that was the case between rival tech companies. Certainly in my line people move between the big outsourcers frequently.

I've seen a few, mostly where multiple outsourcers partner up for a deal.

[anonymous-user]

It varies from business sector to business sector. Some sectors like the clauses, others don't.

Thanks to the helpful Mod who amended the thread title.

[Silent1]

Breadvan72 said:

It varies from business sector to business sector. Some sectors like the clauses, others don't.

Thanks to the helpful Mod who amended the thread title.

oddly it seems ridiculously common in defense hardware suppliers, i presume to make it impossible to move easily.

[Art0ir]

This surfaced quite a while back when some internal Apple emails were leaked IIRC. If I remember correctly (may have been 2+ years now), a Hiring Manager got an absolute bking from someone very senior for even contacting a Google employee. Pretty rotten for engineers employed by them anyway.

[Sonic]

Yep, BBC article here with a few details - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27137464