An effort to dismiss a no-poaching lawsuit in Illinois against three staffing firms and a client company was rejected by a judge, the state’s Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced yesterday.
Raoul says the three staffing firms unlawfully agreed to hire employees from one another and to fix the employees’ wages, according to the announcement. Client company Colony Inc. allegedly facilitated the arrangements.
In addition to staffing client Colony, the companies sued were Elite Staffing Inc., Metro Staff Inc. and Midway Staffing Inc. They supplied workers to Colony’s facilities in Elgin and St. Charles, Illinois.
“I am pleased with the court’s decision that prevents the companies’ attempt to shirk responsibility for taking advantage of Illinois workers through no-poach and wage-fixing agreements,” Raoul said in a statement.
The no-poach deal began as early as March 2018 when the companies agreed not to hire one another’s workers and not compete with respect to wages, according to the Attorney General’s office. If a temporary worker did switch to another agency, he or she would be returned to the original agency.
In their motion to dismiss, defendants argued the Illinois Antitrust Act does not apply to labor services and exempts wage-fixing or no-poaching policies, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Rauol reported the Illinois Antitrust Act does protect labor union activities from antitrust liability, but it does not contain a “blanket immunization” for any activity relation to labor services.
The court also held that Raoul properly alleged a conspiracy to eliminate competition on wages and the hiring of temporary workers which, if proven, would be presumed illegal under the Illinois Antitrust Act, according to his office.