W EEKLY EDITION AUGUST 1, 2018
Hiring and Employment Decisions May Have Antitrust
Im plications for Your Company
KOS DOJ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
Depending on a variety of factors, the attorney may recommend that your company owner self - reports the conduct to the DOJ
under its Corporate Leniency Policy, which provides that the first qualifyi ng company (including universities and other non - profit
entities) to report the antitrust offense and cooperate with the DOJ's investigation will not be criminally charged for the
reported antitrust offense.
If you have already participated in the illega l agreement,
consider speaking to an attorney. He or she will be best able
to advise you about how to protect your career.
The attorney may suggest that you self - report the conduct to
the Division under its Leniency Policy for Individuals, which
provides that the first qualifying individual to report the
antitrust offense and cooperate with the Division's
investigation will not be criminally charged for the reported
antitrust offense. For more information on these policies, see
this link .
Question: I am the owner of a small business. In my
industry, firms traditionally offer certain benefits to
all employees. The cost of benefits is going up, so I
would like to stop offering some of them, but I am
worried that current employees will become
disgruntled and move to other companies. I would
like to ask other firms in the industry to stop
offering certain benefits as well. Can I do that?
Answer: No, you would likely violate antitrust law if you an d
the other companies agreed to cease offering certain
benefits. Job benefits such as gym membership, parking,
transit subsidies, meals, or meal subsidies and similar benefits
of employment are all elements of employee compensation.
An agreement with a com petitor to fix elements of employee
compensation is an illegal wage - fixing agreement.
Question: I serve on the board of our industry's trade association. We are interested in determining current
and future trends in industry wages. Can we distribute a sur vey asking companies within the industry about
current and future wages?
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