Until a few years ago, employment restrictions such as noncompetes and no-hire clauses were regularly enforced (a notable exception being in California). That changed in 2016, when the Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced that “no poach/no-hire” agreements between companies would be considered for criminal prosecution. This January, for the first time, the DOJ criminally prosecuted a company for allegedly entering no-poach agreements with others in the health-care industry.
