A contingent workforce buyer and six staffing firms were sued by the Illinois Attorney General over their alleged use of no-poaching agreements. The lawsuit was announced this week by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

The buyer in the lawsuit is Vee Pak LLC, which does business as Voyant Beauty.

The staffing firms would track temporary workers at Vee Pak who tried to switch from one staffing firm to another, according to the complaint. If one staffing agency noticed a worker switching to any of the other participating staffing agencies, the temporary worker would either be returned to their original staffing firm or be fired altogether. Vee Pak allegedly helped to enforce the agreement by notifying the staffing provider to which the temporary worker tried to move and ensuring the agreement was enforced.

Staffing firms named as defendants were Alternative Staffing Inc., American Quest Staffing Solutions Inc., Creative Staffing Solutions Inc., Midway Staffing Inc., Staffing Network LLC and SureStaff Inc.

The Attorney General’s lawsuit seeks an injunction to immediately stop the no-poach agreement and seek civil penalties and damages.

In July 2020, Raoul filed a similar lawsuit alleging three staffing agencies and their client conspired to eliminate competition and harm temporary workers in Illinois by interfering with their ability to seek better employment opportunities and better wages and benefits. While that case is congoing, an Illinois appellate court ruled in June 2021 that the temporary staffing industry can’t use a loophole to avoid state antitrust protections.