But keep reading if you`re an employer and want to experience a serious and growing risk of anti-dominance, compounded by the enforcement of federal and national private cartel and litigation legislation. Agreements not to recruit staff from another company (no poaching agreements) will be increasingly scrutinised, with potential criminal consequences. In close agreement, there is a flood of new “wage-setting cases,” a variant of price-fixing. They will recall comparisons made a few years ago by Google, Apple, Intel and Adobe Systems, which amounted to $US 415 million in penalties related to charges they had made in non-poaching agreements. Disney, Dreamworks Animation and Sony have also reportedly settled similar complaints about hiring animation agents. The per-se label means that agencies will not be attentive to the effects of the agreement or to intentions for efficiency or cost control: “If the agreement is separated from greater legitimate cooperation between employers or is not reasonably necessary, the agreement is considered illegal. . . .