Statements by the U.S. Department of Justice after winning its first wage-fixing conviction at trial signal that its efforts to prosecute labor market cases will continue, McGuireWoods Washington, D.C., partner Megan Lewis and Richmond associate Cole Geddy wrote in a May 19, 2025, article in Law360.
The owner of a home healthcare staffing agency was convicted of wire fraud and conspiring with competitors to stay within a range for hourly rates paid to nurses, according to the article. Similar cases that went to trial led to acquittals on the labor market charges, and if the DOJ hadn’t secured a conviction in this case, “it might have been seen as the nail in the coffin of criminal labor market enforcement,” Lewis and Geddy wrote.
The guilty verdict doesn’t open the floodgates for more wage-fixing cases, but it does prove that such conspiracies can be successfully prosecuted, the attorneys concluded.
“Only time will tell whether the DOJ will continue to exercise its criminal authority in all per se labor market cases, or whether the agencies will reach some middle ground on the criteria for civil enforcement,” the attorneys wrote. “However, because of the potential for criminal prosecution, improper agreements carry a substantial risk with significant consequences for both companies and individuals.”