The Competition Council has sanctioned eight companies with fines totaling 163.71 million lei (approximately 32.15 million euros) for participating in an anti-competitive agreement consisting in dividing the labour market to limit employee mobility and maintain human resource costs at a low level, the competition authority informs on Monday.
Following an investigation, the competition authority found that Alten Si-Techno Romania SRL, Akkodis Romania SRL, Automobile-Dacia SA, Bertrandt Engineering Technologies Romania SRL, Expleo Romania SRL, FEV ECE Automotive SRL, Renault Technologie Roumanie SRL and Segula Technologies Romania SRL agreed not to compete for the mutual recruitment and employment of skilled labour associated with automotive production activities and/or other related activities, including engineering and technical consulting services in Romania.
The companies also agreed not to recruit human resources from one of the other companies without the prior consent of the latter.
According to the authority, the fines applied were as follows: Akkodis Romania SRL - 5.54 million lei, Alten Si-Techno Romania SRL - 10.65 million lei, Automobile-Dacia SA - 81.53 million lei, Bertrandt Engineering Technologies Romania SRL - 7.71 million lei, Expleo Romania SRL - 7.43 million lei, Fev ECE Automotive SRL - 1.4 million lei, Renault Technologie Roumanie SRL - 46.29 million lei and Segula Technologies Romania SRL - 3.16 million lei.
Such behaviours, known as "no-poaching" agreements, are agreements by which companies agree not to hire or make spontaneous offers to employees of competing companies, thus giving up competition to attract and retain workers.
"This is the first case in which we sanction such anti-competitive practices, in which companies do not compete to attract skilled labour. Human resources represent an essential parameter of competition between companies, considering the share of personnel costs in total expenses, labour shortages or employee/team mobility. This type of behaviour, "no-poaching", is particularly harmful both for competition, by creating artificial barriers on the market, and for employees whose mobility opportunities are affected," stated Bogdan Chiritoiu, president of the Competition Council, quoted in the press release.
During the investigation, one of the companies applied for leniency, providing documents and information that significantly contributed to proving the anti-competitive practice and received a significant cut in the fine, while five other companies admitted their actions and, consequently, benefited from cuts in their sanctions.
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