French no-hire agreements may be lawful — under the right conditions
By Jean Comte ( July 31, 2025, 13:09 GMT | Comment) -- Companies wishing to set up bilateral commitments in France not to hire each other’s employees can do so, but only under a precise set of conditions. This is the finding of the French antitrust authority, published this week in a decision involving a no-poach cartel. The watchdog analyzed several arrangements between five consultancy companies. It sanctioned the ones that could show no economic rationale, nor any limit in scope or duration.Companies that plan not to hire employees from their competitors should study a document published this week by the French competition authority, namely the public version of its June decision to sanction four companies active in the sectors of engineering, technology consulting and IT services for their participation in a no-poach cartel (see here)....
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