KANSAS CITY — An H&R Block worker has sued the company with claims that it schemed to suppress workers’ wages.
Melissa Ramsey accused H&R Block in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri on Nov. 23. of “unlawfully conspiring to suppress the wages of its employees through agreements with its franchisees not to compete for workers,” which would be an infringement of the Sherman Act.
Ramsey accused H&R block of coming up with a plan through a contractual prohibition, referred to as a “No-Poach Clause,” that was included in the company’s franchise agreements and blocked Ramsey's and coworkers’ job mobility and lowered their wages.
The lawsuit claims Ramsey and her coworkers were ordered to not recruit or solicit employees without getting the OK from their leaders.
Ramsey asked the court to declare the lawsuit as a class action, and H&R Block as having participated in trust, contract and combination schemes, violating the Sherman Act.
She also seeks a ban prohibiting the company from entering into any illegal anticompetitive agreements and that class members receive three times the amount of damages the plaintiff said she experienced.
Ramsey requested the case be heard before a jury.