Compliance Stuff

SUMMARY In recent weeks, there have been significant developments in the legal landscape of pricing and pricing algorithm laws in New York and California. In light of the quickly changing law on pricing, clients should be thinking about reviewing their pricing programs with antitrust counsel and taking other practical steps to decrease the likelihood that these programs might be found to violate state antitrust laws. Recently, California and New York both took significant legislative and legal actions involving pricing algorithms. The results are likely to extend far beyond both states, especially with an ongoing FTC inquiry into the same practices that is likely fueling, either directly or indirectly, many of these states’ actions. Clients who use or distribute pricing algorithms should pay careful attention to these changes: we recommend some potential strategies below as part of a broader effort by clients, including consulting antitrust and consumer protection counsel to advise on ...

  On January 16, 2025, just days before transferring power to the new administration, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) issued updated   Antitrust Guidelines for Business Activities Affecting Workers   (Guidelines) aimed at addressing business practices that impact workers. The guidelines reflect the former administration’s commitment to protecting labor markets from what it perceived as anticompetitive conduct . The timing of their release and the Trump administration’s stance, however, suggest that enforcement may not be as aggressive under the Trump administration as it would have been under the Biden administration. Overview of the New Antitrust Guidelines The FTC and DOJ’s updated Guidelines focus on anticompetitive practices in labor markets, such as wage-fixing, no-poach agreements, and other collusive behaviors that impact workers. These guidelines build on prior efforts, including the 2016 Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource P...