Some major companies lost a 2015 civil lawsuit brought by their employees: <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-google-others-settle-anti-poaching-lawsuit-for-415-million/">Apple, Google, others settle antipoaching lawsuit for $415 million - CNET</a>

> Filed by former employees of the companies involved, the lawsuit shed
> a light on the practice of some major tech industry players of
> allegedly working together to agree not to poach employees from each
> other. The affected employees had argued that such agreements limited
> their ability to rise up in the industry and stifled their attempts to
> earn higher salaries.

And the DOJ prosecutes, too: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/atr/division-operations/division-update-spring-2018/antitrust-division-continues-investigate-and-prosecute-no-poach-and-wage-fixing-agreements">No More No-Poach: The Antitrust Division Continues to Investigate and Prosecute “No-Poach” and Wage-Fixing Agreements:</a>

> The Antitrust Division protects labor markets and employees by
> actively pursuing investigations into so-called “no-poach” and
> wage-fixing agreements between employers. When companies agree not to
> hire or recruit one another’s employees, they are agreeing not to
> compete for those employees’ labor. The same rules apply when
> employers compete for talent in labor markets as when they compete to
> sell goods and services.