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DOJ Indicts Surgical Company For Labor Market Collusion

By  |  January 7, 2021

A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment charging Surgical Care Affiliates (SCA), which own and operate outpatient medical care centers across the country, for agreeing with competitors not to solicit senior-level employees, the Department of Justice announced. These are the Antitrust Division’s first charges in this ongoing investigation into employee allocation agreements.

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    “The charges demonstrate the Antitrust Division’s continued commitment to criminally prosecute collusion in America’s labor markets,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.  “A freely competitive employment market is essential to the health of our economy and the mobility of American workers.  Along with our law enforcement partners, the division will ensure that companies who illegally deprive employees of competitive opportunities are not immune from our antitrust laws.”

    “The charges demonstrate the FBI’s commitment to ensuring a free market and protecting opportunities for American workers,” said Steven M. D’Antuono, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office.  “The FBI will continue to work with our partners to root out this type of illegal activity and deter employer collusion that harms the American people and workers.”

    “Companies competing for top-level talent is the bedrock of the American labor market,” said US Attorney Erin Nealy Cox for the Northern District of Texas.  “The Northern District of Texas is proud to partner with the Antitrust Division to prosecute Sherman Act violations.”

    The indictment, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, charges SCA with entering into and engaging in two separate bilateral conspiracies with other health care companies to suppress competition between them for the services of senior-level employees, in violation of the Sherman Act.

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