New York Attorney General Letitia James and her counterpart in New Jersey, Attorney General Matthew Platkin, have struck a deal with Planned Building Services, Inc., effectively ending the company's illegal no-poach agreements and opening the door for better job prospects for employees. These agreements have been identified as harmful to workers by limiting their ability to find new, potentially better opportunities.
"No poach agreements prevent workers from reaching their full potential by making it harder to find new jobs with better pay and benefits," "Planned’s use of these illegal provisions in their employees’ contracts stifled their careers, but now we are putting a stop to them," Attorney General James revealed. The settlement ensures that Planned Building Services will not only cease existing no-poach agreements but also avoid creating any new ones, thereby, these measures are hoped to facilitate a freer employment market in the building services sector, according to the New York Attorney General's office.
Planned, known for employing personnel in residential and commercial buildings across 13 states, was found by the investigative efforts of both states' attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce no-poach clauses with its clients, which prohibited them from hiring Planned's employees directly. By entering into this agreement, Planned will collaborate with ongoing inquiries and will be required to certify compliance annually for a decade, this initiative marking another step in the attorneys' general mission to dismantle barriers to job mobility and market competition.
The attorneys general have made it clear that this settlement is a continuation of their broader efforts against no-poach agreements; in the past year, similar actions have included a settlement with Guardian Service Industries and the abolishment of the NCAA’s restrictive transfer rules, "Attorney General James has ended the use of no-poach agreements by the five largest commercial underwriters in the United States, including First American, Fidelity, Old Republic, Stewart, Amtrust, and two of the largest title insurance agencies, First Nationwide and Kensington Vanguard," which showcases a sustained commitment to eliminating such anti-competitive practices, as detailed by the New York Attorney General's office. The New York Attorney General's Antitrust Bureau, led by Bureau Chief Elinor Hoffmann and overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy, was crucial to the outcome of this investigation.
