Nearly 1,800 workers freed from restrictions limiting job mobility
Gateway Services barred from enforcing or creating new noncompetes
Case signals Trump-Vance FTC’s focus on anticompetitive labor practices
The Federal Trade Commission has ordered Gateway Services, Inc., the country’s largest pet cremation company, and its subsidiary to stop enforcing noncompete agreements that bound nearly all of its employees, a move aimed at protecting worker mobility and wages.
In a complaint, the FTC alleged that Gateway’s noncompete clauses prohibited employees from working anywhere in the U.S. pet cremation industry for one year after leaving the company. The agreements, in place since 2019, applied to workers across the company’s operations, from executives to hourly laborers at its more than 100 facilities serving 17,000 veterinary clinics nationwide.
Under a proposed consent order, Gateway must immediately end enforcement of the agreements, notify workers that they are no longer bound by them, and refrain from imposing similar restrictions in the future, except in limited circumstances. The FTC said the action will free nearly 1,800 employees.
“The Commission will stand up for workers and ensure that they receive all the benefits that flow from robust competition between employers,” said Daniel Guarnera, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. He added that antitrust laws protect workers from being locked into jobs by unfair restrictions that block access to better pay or business opportunities.
Unfair labor practices
FTC officials said the action reflects the Trump-Vance administration’s emphasis on targeting unfair labor practices through its Joint Labor Task Force. “The Trump-Vance FTC will never stop fighting for American workers,” said Kelse Moen, deputy director of the Bureau of Competition.
The complaint said Gateway’s noncompete agreements unfairly tilted bargaining power toward the company and hindered competition by discouraging the growth of rival businesses. The proposed order also restricts Gateway from banning former employees from soliciting customers, except those they directly served in their final year with the company.