On April 10, 2025, the Senate confirmed Mark Meador to serve as the third Republican on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a 50-46 party line vote. Commissioner Meador takes his seat on a Commission now comprised of three Republicans and no Democrats since President Trump fired Democratic Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya in March. The
The FTC took two actions on February 26, 2025 to emphasize its continued focus on labor markets and to rededicate its efforts to a policy priority in common with those of the previous Administration. First, the FTC approved a Final Order requiring a building service contractor to stop enforcing a no-hire agreement with its customers. Second, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson directed the FTC to form a Joint Labor Task Force dedicated to “protecting … American consumers in their roles as workers.”Continue Reading Pair of FTC Actions Underscores Continued Focus on Labor Issues
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson announced to FTC staff on February 18 that the FTC would retain the 2023 Merger Guidelines as the framework for reviewing mergers and acquisitions. Citing the need for stability between presidential administrations, Chairman Ferguson rejected calls to set aside the 2023 Merger Guidelines to draft new ones or reinstate
Days before President Trump’s inauguration, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) replaced their Antitrust Guidance for Human Resources Professionals (“2016 Guidance”), which had been in place since 2016. The Antitrust Guidelines for Business Activities Affecting Workers covers similar ground as the prior guidance, but expands its reach to a few areas emphasized by the Biden Administration. For example, where the 2016 Guidance primarily covered 1) naked agreements between employers not to poach workers or fix wages and 2) information-sharing arrangements between competing employers, the replacement guidance expands its coverage to other areas, including restrictions in the franchise and independent contractor contexts, non-competition agreements, ancillary agreements such as non-disclosure agreements, non-solicitation agreements, liquidated damages provisions, and conduct such as false earnings claims.Continue Reading DOJ and FTC Release Replacement Human Resources Guidelines to an Uncertain Future
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) secured a record consent penalty of $5.6 million against two merging parties on January 7, 2025 for improper pre-merger coordination, marking the agency’s first gun-jumping action in over a quarter century. Verdun Oil Company and XCL Resources Holdings had agreed to acquire EP Energy LLC in a transaction requiring prior notification to the FTC and the U.S. Department of Justice under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”). In the substantive antitrust investigation that followed the parties’ HSR Act notifications, the FTC secured a commitment for Verdun and XCL to divest assets as a condition of FTC approval for the transaction. The FTC also discovered that the parties had violated the HSR Act.Continue Reading FTC Secures Record Gun-Jumping Penalty in a Case with Several Lessons for Merging Parties
On November 12, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published its Final Rule and Statement of Basis and Purpose amending the Premerger Notification and Report Form filed for transactions reported under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”).
Unless the Final Rule is delayed or rescinded by the FTC, the new
On October 10, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) released final revisions of the rules that govern filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the “Final Rules”). The Final Rules will take effect 90 days after they are ultimately published in the Federal Register.
The FTC scaled back or
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has filed a Complaint and a proposed Consent Order that would bar the CEO of oil company Hess from sitting on the Board of Chevron after the merger of the two companies. According to the Complaint filed in the matter on September 29, CEO John B. Hess has a long
Judge Ada E. Brown of the Northern District of Texas this afternoon granted summary judgment in favor of Ryan, LLC and the plaintiff-intervenors in the case of Ryan, LLC v. Federal Trade Commission challenging the FTC’s ban on post-employment non-competes (“Non-Compete Rule”). Judge Brown concluded that the FTC lacked statutory authority to promulgate the
On April 26, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had finalized changes to the Health Breach Notification Rule (HBNR). These changes, which go into effect on June 25, 2024, are intended to modernize aspects of the HBNR such that the HBNR applies to entities not covered under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The updated HBNR follows the FTC’s previously stated intention in a 2021 policy statement to broaden the interpretation of the HBNR to address the growing number of digital health applications, websites, and consumer-facing technology that were not subject to HIPAA. The scope of the finalized rule therefore aims to apply the HBNR to health care technology and digital health companies that obtain personal health records (PHR) and PHR identifiable health information.Continue Reading FTC Finalizes Broader Changes to the Health Breach Notification Rule