Dive Brief:

• The US Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Division issued requirements concerning human resource functions as they relate to antitrust laws in recruitment and compensation, Mondaq reports. The goal of this is to ensure the workplace remains competitive. 
• Typical HR practices that can put an organization into hot water include the use of no-poaching agreements that prohibit one employer from soliciting or recruiter another's; and compensation agreements between organizations not to increase the compensation for certain categories of employees as well as offering the same salary ranges and benefits. 
• The FTC and DOJ have provided guidelines for sharing compensation data which can help avoid possible violations. Guidelines include using a neutral third-party for data management, sharing historic information only, including at least five participants so information cannot be linked to any one company, and distributing aggregated data to avoid revealing a company's individual data. Other special guidelines are included for mergers. 

Dive Insight:

The use of salary surveys and compensation data has become so commonplace in human resource and recruitment departments that many companies may not realize they are breaking antitrust laws. This recent reminder from the DOJ and FTC is something that all should review to examine internal and external processes and ensure risk is minimized.

While it is still perfectly fine to discuss salary with candidates during the recruitment process, this information should not be used to manipulate the recruitment efforts of other companies. For example, sharing what other companies are typically paying and offering in terms of benefits is not allowed.