Luxury Retail Employees “No-Poach” Antitrust Litigation

The Joseph Saveri Law Firm, LLP and Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP have filed a luxury retail employees “no-poach” antitrust class action complaint alleging that defendants Saks Incorporated, Saks & Company LLC, Saks Fifth Avenue LLC, Louis Vuitton USA Inc., Fendi North America, Inc., Loro Piana & C. Inc., Gucci America, Inc., Prada USA Corp., and Brunello Cucinelli, USA, Inc. agreed not to hire one another’s luxury retail employees. Defendants operate hundreds of stores in the United States employing tens of thousands of luxury retail employees.

Plaintiffs are former Saks sales professionals who sought employment opportunities with other defendants—sometimes directly, sometimes through recruitment agencies—only to be told they could not be hired due to agreements between Saks and the other luxury retailers not to hire one another’s luxury retail employees.

Plaintiffs allege that these illegal agreements restrain competition for luxury retail employees working for defendants, in violation of United States antitrust law. In a competitive market, employers would compete for the services of luxury retail employees who have the training and skills to enhance the employers’ sales and brand images. Competition would drive up compensation for luxury retail employees. In contrast, the alleged unlawful agreements suppress compensation for individual employees who seek better opportunities with competing luxury retail employers but are not hired due to the alleged agreements. They also suppress compensation for all luxury retail employees because they allow defendants to avoid paying a competitive wage to prevent employees from seeking better opportunities elsewhere, as they would in a competitive market.

In this luxury retailers no-poach suit, the firm and co-counsel seek damages and injunctive relief on behalf of plaintiffs and a proposed class of luxury retail employees who worked for defendants between September 30, 2015, and the present. The suit is pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Please contact the firm if:

• You have been affected by or have knowledge of the alleged agreements between Defendants not to hire one another’s employees
• You would like to learn more about this class action suit

Any information you provide will be kept strictly confidential as provided by law.