In other news from the judiciary, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta, Georgia, reversed an earlier decision by the district court in Miami that dismissed a lawsuit filed by Burger King workers over the company’s “no-hire” policy. Burger King previously had a clause in its franchise agreement – as did many franchises – that blocked franchisees from hiring each other’s employees. During the Obama administration, the federal government began to target franchised business practices and against that backdrop, employees of Burger King at the time filed a potential class action suit against the chain over its “no-poach” policy. The district court dismissed the initial lawsuit ruling that each franchise was a “single economic enterprise” and therefore the policy was not an unlawful conspiracy. Burger King urged the court to uphold the dismissal not only as not an unlawful conspiracy, but also because any resulting restraint of trade was not unreasonable. Unfortunately, the appellate court rejected both positions. Ruling the clause was in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the court revived the lawsuit and remanded the case back to the district court.
