The Department of Justice Antitrust Division revealed on Jan. 28 the criminal prosecution of a conspiracy that allegedly suppressed wages and limited job mobility for essential health care workers. A federal grand jury in Portland, Maine, returned a criminal indictment charging four managers of home health care agencies with participating in a conspiracy at the dawn of the Covid-19 pandemic to eliminate competition for Personal Support Specialist (PSS) workers.

Notably, the indictment appears to further several goals in President Biden’s executive order on promoting competition in the American economy, which seeks to “protect workers from wage collusion,” to enhance “the economic freedom to switch jobs or negotiate a higher wage,” and to promote “the welfare of workers.”

Employers should keep a watchful eye on these developments, particularly those employing essential workers. As Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter highlighted in the announcement, “essential workers risked their health caring for others at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic” and the scheme alleged in this indictment “deprive[d] them of opportunities to earn better wages.”

These charges are part of an “ongoing...

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