Luxury Retail Employees “No-Poach” Antitrust Litigation

Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP and The Joseph Saveri Law Firm have filed an antitrust class action complaint in the Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York 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. (“Defendants”) conspired to not hire luxury retail employees with current or previous experience working for these brands.  Defendants operate hundreds of stores in the United States, employing tens of thousands of luxury retail employees.

Plaintiffs Susan Giordano, Angelene Hayes, and Ying-Liang Wang (“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.  Conversely, 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.

Faruqi & Faruqi 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 before the Honorable Margo K. Brodie in the Eastern District of New York. 

Please contact Innessa M. Huot at Faruqi & Faruqi if:

•    You have been affected by, or have knowledge of, the alleged agreements between Defendants not to hire one another’s employees; or

•    You would like to learn more about this case.

Any information you provide will be kept strictly confidential as provided by law.  Please call our offices at (212) 983-9330.