The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit vacates and remands a District Court’s dismissal of an antitrust case that challenged no-hire and non-solicitation clauses in a multinational fast food chain’s franchise agreements (McDonald’s / Deslandes)

On August 25, 2023, in Deslandes v. McDonald’s, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded a district court’s dismissal of an antitrust case that challenged no-hire and non-solicitation clauses in McDonald’s franchise agreements. [1] The Court held that the district court had not sufficiently analyzed whether or not the per se rule should apply and that the allegations in this case did not warrant a finding that the clauses at issue were ancillary to a procompetitive arrangement based on the pleadings alone. This decision is the latest in a series of labor-related antitrust cases, including criminal cases, that have addressed contractual labor conditions like no-hire and non-solicitation clauses in recent years. Employers should be aware of the scrutiny on such clauses and