Wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements will be illegal beginning on June 23, 2023.
Today, the Competition Bureau published its wage-fixing and no-poaching enforcement guidelines.
The guidelines provide businesses transparency and clarity on the Bureau's enforcement approach to the new criminal provisions coming into force on June 23, 2023.
With the 2022 amendments to the conspiracy provision (section 45) of the Competition Act, as of June 23, 2023, it is a criminal offence for employers to agree:
- to fix, maintain, decrease or control wages or other terms of employment; or
- to refrain from hiring or trying to hire one another's employees.
In addition, beginning on June 23, 2023, all fines for offences under the conspiracy provision-including agreements to fix prices, allocate markets, restrict supply, fix wages or refrain from hiring-will be determined at the court's discretion. Under the previous provision, fines were capped at a maximum of $25 million.
The Bureau will also update its Immunity and Leniency Programs to include the new wage-fixing and no-poaching provisions. The Immunity and Leniency Programs are the Bureau's most powerful tools for detecting and stopping criminal conduct prohibited by the Competition Act.
