The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has historically focused on protecting Americans in their role as consumers. But, pursuant to a recent directive issued in February 2025 by FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, the FTC will also focus its efforts on protecting those same American consumers in their role as workers and participants in the economy as "sellers of labor." This directive comes on the heels of President Trump's recent executive order, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, to eliminate the "illegal" diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies of federal agencies and government contractors, as discussed in our recent article on the DEI Dilemma. To lead this initiative, Chairman Ferguson has instructed, via a memorandum discussing this Directive Regarding Labor Markets Task Force ("Directive"), that a Joint Labor Task Force ("Task Force") shall be formed, consisting of at least three members each from the FTC Bureaus of Competition, Consumer Protection, and Economics, as well as one member from the Office of Policy Planning, with the goal of combating harmful practices that "trigger [the FTC's] mandates to fight unfair or deceptive practices and unfair methods of competition" as they relate specifically to employer labor practices. Interestingly, the focus on competitive impacts in the labor market is similar to concerns expressed in the Biden Administration.
Background and Purpose of the Task Force
As noted in Chairman Ferguson's Directive, the labor market of the United States plays a crucial role in shaping and supporting the U.S. economy. And, while a "healthy labor market" is noted to be closely connected to the success of a nation, that market can easily be affected by both long-existing and modern-day challenges, from wage stagnation and the rise of nontraditional employment (like freelance work and "gigs") to the complexities added by the advent of artificial intelligence and the use of increasingly complicated digital platforms. In response to these challenges, the new Trump administration has encouraged the formation of the Task Force, with a goal of focusing on providing policy recommendations and strategic guidance, to both address the evolving nature of workforce and labor market trends and combat unfair and anticompetitive employment practices.
The Directive provides examples of the types of conduct of concern: no-poach, non-solicitation, or no-hire agreements; wage-fixing agreements; noncompete agreements; labor-contract termination penalties; labor market monopsonies; collusion or unlawful coordination on DEI metrics; harming gig economy workers through deceptive or unfair practices; deceptive job, business opportunity, and franchise advertising and marketing; and harmful occupational licensing requirements.
Key Responsibilities of the Task Force
The Directive outlines several key responsibilities for the Task Force, which can be grouped into the following objectives:
- Investigate and prosecute deceptive, unfair, or anticompetitive labor market conduct in the Bureau of Competition and the Bureau of Consumer Protection and coordinate the procedures for investigating such conduct across all three Bureaus.
- Utilize the full knowledge of the FTC across the Bureaus by creating a uniform information-sharing protocol, promoting research on and exchanging best practices for discovering and investigating deceptive, unfair, or anticompetitive labor market conduct; share those findings both within the FTC and to the general public; and engage in general public outreach to encourage workers to report such labor market conduct to the FTC.
- Determine areas ripe for advocacy on legislative or regulatory changes that may remove barriers of concern to promote healthier labor market participation, mobility, and competition.
- Prosecute matters related to consumer protection and competition law to the fullest extent possible, including those investigations and enforcement actions brought by the Bureau of Consumer Protection or the Bureau of Competition with support from the Bureau of Economics.
What We Can Expect in Response to This Directive
It remains to be seen how many cases the Task Force will actually bring, as the FTC's resources are the subject of the same broad pressure as other parts of government. The FTC, however, is not alone in the Trump administration's focus on labor markets, as evidenced by the recent meeting between the head of Justice Department's Antitrust Division, Gail Slater, and leadership of the Teamsters Union to discuss antitrust enforcement in labor markets. A similar issue of resource allocation will be how much of the FTC's efforts are DEI focused, as opposed to the other concerns identified in the Directive. If you have concerns or questions about your business and employment practices, attorneys at Venable are here to assist.