FTC and DOL Sign MOU for Cooperation

In late September, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). In the MOU, the two agencies expressed their “good-faith intentions” to work together to “address the need for information sharing, coordinated investigations and enforcement activity, training, education, research, and outreach between the [a]gencies.”

The MOU notes several areas of mutual interest important for coordination between the agencies, such as “[a]pproaches to identifying and remedying anticompetitive conduct or mergers, or unfair or deceptive acts or practices,” as well as approaches to identify and remedy violations of laws enforced by the DOL. 

When discussing coordinated investigations and enforcement, the MOU notes that “[s]taff may also exchange information about general patterns of conduct that may be anticompetitive or otherwise harm consumers, workers, or others. As discussed below, each [a]gency may make referrals of potential violations of the other [a]gency’s laws, where appropriate.”

This MOU comes on the heels of the FTC’s proposed modification to the Hart-Scott-Rodino filing form, which would require filing entities to provide the largest employee classifications and geographic overlap for those employees, and it emphasizes the FTC’s interest in competition in labor markets.