On 11 June 2025, France's competition authority announced a decision imposing a €30 million fine on three IT consulting companies for general non-poach agreements covering all employees and not limited in time. This marks a European trend towards extending competition law to human resources.
In April 2018, Ausy (now with 7,000 employees worldwide) came forward to the French authorities and sought leniency regarding its ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ with its competitor Alten in France not to poach each other’s employees. Seven years later, the move, which allowed the IT consulting firm to avoid a fine, led the Autorité de la Concurrence, France’s competition authority, to sanction three companies for these practices.
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Article authors
Antoine Piel
Section Head at Mind HR