Since 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice has made it a point to criminally investigate companies with naked no-poaching agreements. Alongside the criminal pursuit comes an antitrust class action in Connecticut challenging big players in the aerospace industry.

Six aerospace engineering firms—Pratt & Whitney, Belcan Engineering Group, Parametric Solutions, Cyient, Agilis Engineering and QuEST Global Services-NA—have been accused of a per se violation of the Sherman Act via a conspiracy “not to solicit, recruit, hire without prior approval, or otherwise compete for employees” by a class of aerospace workers, according to the complaint filed in 2021.