DOJ and eBay reache settlement with anti-competitive hiring behavior

E-commerce giant eBay has agreed to a settlement relating to accusations of anti-competitive hiring behaviour. In two separate lawsuits by US regulators, eBay was accused of agreeing with technology firm Intuit not to poach each others’ employees. eBay will pay California $3.75 million and refrain from anti-competitive hiring behaviour for five years. The suits were brought by US Department of Justice and the Attorney General of California in 2012.

The U.S. Department of Justice would prohibit eBay from entering into agreements with other tech firms to not recruit each other’s employees, in a settlement announced by the agency Thursday. The settlement would bring to an end a long DOJ investigation into anticompetitive hiring practices at several tech companies, including Google, Apple and Intel. The proposed settlement in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California would prohibit eBay from entering or maintaining for five years what the DOJ called anticompetitive agreements related to employee hiring and retention. The settlement would broadly prohibit eBay from entering into or enforcing any agreement that prevents any competitor from soliciting, cold calling, recruiting, hiring or otherwise competing for employees.