Details:  On June 3, 2009, The Washington Post reported that the Department of Justice has begun an investigation into whether some of the nation’s largest technology companies violated antitrust laws by negotiating the recruiting and hiring of one another’s employees. According to the Post, the review is in its preliminary stages and includes some major players in the technology sector, among them Apple, Google and Yahoo. The allegations seem to focus on agreements between companies not to hire away top talent. If true, these alleged activities could violate antitrust laws.

How Does This Affect My Enterprise?

• Enterprises should anticipate an increase in regulatory scrutiny of their business practices
• Enterprises should take proactive measures to ensure that its records retention, legal hold management and ability to review and analyze its data is in place
• Enterprises should test and monitor its identification, collection, and preservation policies and procedures before major litigation or regulatory review hits
• Enterprise should consider using technology to identify the business units with the most exposure to antitrust issues; and then focus its compliance and data management efforts on the people or units most at risk