On February 26, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the launch of a Joint Labor Task Force to “prioritize rooting out and prosecuting unfair labor-market practices that harm American workers.” The announcement signals that the Republican-led FTC will continue the previous administration’s focus on anticompetitive labor practices, a shift from the party’s traditional pro-employer approach.
In a Directive issued along with the announcement, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson instructed the Directors of the Bureaus of Competition, Consumer Protection, and Economics and the Office of Policy Planning to form a task force to coordinate investigations and enforcement actions and create information-sharing processes. The Directive emphasizes the FTC’s mandate to protect the American people in their role as workers, as well as their role as consumers, declaring that the FTC is “uniquely well-suited” to address harms workers face in the current labor market.
Although Chair Ferguson opposed the now-enjoined FTC rule barring most noncompete agreements, his recent statements indicate support for the use of the FTC’s enforcement authority to target noncompetes on a case-by-case basis. His dissent on the issuance of the noncompete rule was based on Constitutional grounds as he viewed the rule as going beyond the FTC’s statutory authority. However, he stated that the FTC will use the antitrust laws as a “scalpel” to prosecute specific noncompete agreements where appropriate. In a...
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of Education Dana Morris Dixon has chided the parliamentary Opposition for what she describes as “baseless attacks” and “false allegations” against the Government’s Ru...