Many of you require your employees to sign employment agreements with restrictive covenants, also known as non-competes.(Click here, here and here for review.)  You may be vigilant about enforcing your non-competes. You may go as far as advising competing employers who hire your employees about the non-compete; you might even file suit and name the employer as a co-defendant.  What if you wanted to be more proactive? What if you and one or more of your competitors wanted to head off such issues and instead you enter into an agreement that you will not solicit or hire each other's employees ("non-poaching", non-solicitation or "no-hire" agreements).  What if you want to go further and agree to salary amounts and ranges so that employees are not tempted to leave you in the lurch? Better not. These types of agreements might violate antitrust laws, and might get you in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal and state agencies (and private individuals). Come again? What are antitrust laws? Aren't they designed to prevent big conglomerates from taking over and controlling an industry? What do they have to do with businesses wanting to maintain goodwill and friendly relationships?

Click here to read the entire post on The EmpLAWyerologist...