Notice2025-23716
Adamas Amenity Services LLC, et al.; Analysis of Agreement Containing Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 23, 2025
Issuing agencies
Federal Trade Commission
Abstract
The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged violations of Federal law prohibiting unfair methods of competition. The attached Analysis of Agreement Containing Consent Order to Aid Public Comment describes both the allegations in the complaint and the terms of the consent order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these allegations.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 244 (Tuesday, December 23, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 244 (Tuesday, December 23, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60099-60101]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-23716]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 241 0081]
Adamas Amenity Services LLC, et al.; Analysis of Agreement
Containing Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed consent agreement; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of Federal law prohibiting unfair methods of competition.
The attached Analysis of Agreement Containing Consent Order to Aid
Public Comment describes both the allegations in the complaint and the
terms of the consent order--embodied in the consent agreement--that
would settle these allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 22, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file comments online or on paper by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section
[[Page 60100]]
below. Please write: ``Adamas Services; File No. 241 0081'' on your
comment and file your comment online at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> by
following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file
your comment on paper, please mail your comment to the following
address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Mail Stop H-144 (Annex P), Washington, DC
20580.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Naranjo (415-848-5183), American
Competition Enforcement Division, Federal Trade Commission, 90 7th
Street, Suite 14-300, San Francisco, CA 94103.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34,
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement
containing a consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been
placed on the public record for a period of 30 days. The following
Analysis of Agreement Containing Consent Order to Aid Public Comment
describes the terms of the consent agreement and the allegations in the
complaint. An electronic copy of the full text of the consent agreement
package can be obtained from the FTC website at this web address:
<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/commission-actions">https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/commission-actions</a>.
The public is invited to submit comments on this document. We
strongly encourage you to submit your comments online through the
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> website. For the Commission to consider
your comment, we must receive it on or before January 22, 2026.
If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``Adamas
Services; File No. 241 0081'' on your comment and on the envelope, and
mail your comment by overnight service to: Federal Trade Commission,
Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Mail Stop H-144
(Annex P), Washington, DC 20580. Because of the agency's heightened
security screening, postal mail addressed to the Commission will be
delayed.
Your comment--including your name and your State--will be placed on
the public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent
practicable, on the <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> website. Because your
comment will be placed on the publicly accessible website at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, you are solely responsible for making sure your
comment does not include any sensitive or confidential information. In
particular, your comment should not include sensitive personal
information, such as your or anyone else's Social Security number; date
of birth; driver's license number or other State identification number,
or foreign country equivalent; passport number; financial account
number; or credit or debit card number. You are also solely responsible
for making sure your comment does not include sensitive health
information, such as medical records or other individually identifiable
health information. In addition, your comment should not include any
``trade secret or any commercial or financial information which . . .
is privileged or confidential''--as provided by section 6(f) of the FTC
Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2)--
including competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales
statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing
processes, or customer names.
Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is
requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled
``Confidential,'' and must comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c). In particular,
the written request for confidential treatment that accompanies the
comment must include the factual and legal basis for the request and
must identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from
the public record. See FTC Rule 4.9(c). Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the General Counsel grants your request in
accordance with the law and the public interest. Once your comment has
been posted on <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>--as legally required by FTC
Rule 4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove your comment from that website,
unless you submit a confidentiality request that meets the requirements
for such treatment under FTC Rule 4.9(c), and the General Counsel
grants that request.
Visit the FTC website at <a href="https://www.ftc.gov">https://www.ftc.gov</a> to read this document
and the news release describing this matter. The FTC Act and other laws
the Commission administers permit the collection of public comments to
consider and use in this proceeding, as appropriate. The Commission
will consider all timely and responsive public comments it receives on
or before January 22, 2026. For information on the Commission's privacy
policy, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see
<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy">https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy</a>.
Analysis of Agreement Containing Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
I. Introduction
The Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'') has accepted, subject
to final approval, an Agreement Containing Consent Order (``Consent
Agreement'') with Adamas Amenity Services LLC, Adamas Building Services
LLC, Adamas Concierge LLC, Adamas Parking Services LLC, and Adamas
Security LLC (collectively, ``Respondents''). The proposed Decision and
Order (``Order''), included in the Consent Agreement and subject to
final Commission approval, is designed to remedy the anticompetitive
effects that have resulted from Respondents' use of restrictive
covenants in some of their contracts with building owners and managers
that limit the ability of those building owners and managers to solicit
or hire Respondents' employees (``No-Hire Agreements''). The term No-
Hire Agreement refers to a term in an agreement between two or more
companies that restricts, imposes conditions on, or otherwise limits a
company's ability to solicit, recruit, or hire another company's
employees, during employment or afterwards, directly or indirectly,
including by imposing a fee or damages in connection with such conduct,
or that otherwise inhibits competition between companies for each
other's employees' services.
The Consent Agreement settles charges that Respondents have engaged
in unfair methods of competition in violation of section 5 of the FTC
Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. 45 (``section 5 of the FTC Act''), by
entering into No-Hire Agreements with customers. Respondents' No-Hire
Agreements constitute unreasonable restraints of trade that are
unlawful under section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. 1, and are thus
unfair methods of competition in violation of section 5of the FTC Act.
Independent of the Sherman Act, Respondents' use of the No-Hire
Agreements constitutes an unfair method of competition with a tendency
or likelihood to harm competition, consumers, and employees in the
building services industry, in violation of section 5 of the FTC Act.
The proposed Order has been placed on the public record for 30 days
in order to receive comments from interested persons. Comments received
during this period will become part of the public record. After 30
days, the Commission will again review the Consent Agreement, and the
comments received, and will decide whether it should withdraw from the
Consent Agreement
[[Page 60101]]
and take appropriate action or make the proposed Order final.
II. The Respondents
Respondents are building services contractors headquartered in
Rutherford, New Jersey that provide building maintenance, janitorial,
concierge, valet, and security services. Respondent Adamas Amenity
Services LLC provides services relating to residential building
amenities such as pool and fitness facilities. Respondent Adamas
Building Services LLC provides janitorial and maintenance services.
Respondent Adamas Concierge LLC handles front desk, doorman, and lobby
attendant services. Respondent Adamas Parking LLC provides parking
garage and valet services. Respondent Adamas Security LLC handles
unarmed security services. A substantial majority of Respondents' work
relates to residential buildings.
III. The Complaint
The complaint alleges that Respondents sell building services to
building owners and property management companies, primarily consisting
of the labor of janitors, security guards, maintenance workers, and
concierge desk workers who are directly employed by Respondents. These
employees perform their work predominantly in New Jersey and New York
City.
The complaint also alleges that Respondents and their building
owner and property manager customers are direct competitors in labor
markets for building services workers. These include the markets for
workers to perform concierge, security, janitorial, maintenance, and
related services.
As alleged in the complaint, Respondents use standard-form
agreements with their customers that include No-Hire Agreements. The
No-Hire Agreements restrict the ability of Respondents' customers to
(1) directly hire workers employed by Respondents and (2) indirectly
hire workers employed by Respondents through a competing building
services contractor after the competitor wins the customers' business
away from Respondents. These restrictions apply during the term of
Respondents' contracts and for six months thereafter. The restrictions
against hiring apply not just to Respondents' employees staffed to
provide services for a particular customer, but to all of Respondents'
building services employees.
The complaint alleges that Respondents' No-Hire Agreements are
anticompetitive because they eliminate direct, horizontal, and
significant forms of competition to attract labor in the U.S. building
services industry. These agreements deny employees access to job
opportunities, restrict their mobility, and deprive them of
competitively significant information that they could have used to
negotiate for better terms of employment. The complaint further alleges
that any legitimate objectives of Respondents' conduct could have been
achieved through significantly less restrictive means. Among other
terms, the scope and duration of the No-Hire Agreements are not
reasonably necessary to achieve any claimed pro-competitive purpose of
Respondents' building services contracts. For these reasons, the
complaint alleges that the No-Hire Agreements constitute unreasonable
restraints of trade that violate section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15
U.S.C. 1, and are thus unfair methods of competition in violation of
section 5 of the FTC Act.
Independent of the Sherman Act, the complaint alleges that
Respondents' conduct constitutes an unfair method of competition with a
tendency or likelihood to harm competition, consumers, and employees in
the building services industry, in violation of section 5 of the FTC
Act. According to the complaint, the No-Hire Agreements limit the
ability of building owners and competing building service contractors
to hire Respondents' employees. This harms Respondents' employees
because it limits their ability to negotiate for higher wages, better
benefits, and improved working conditions. Employees may suffer further
hardship if the building they work at changes management, because the
No-Hire Agreements force them to leave their jobs in some
circumstances. The complaint further alleges that the No-Hire
Agreements harm building owners and managers because they may be
foreclosed from seeking or accepting bids from Respondents' competitors
due to the prospect of losing long-serving workers with extensive,
building-specific experience.
IV. Proposed Order
The proposed Order seeks to remedy Respondents' unfair methods of
competition. Section II of the proposed Order prohibits Respondents
from entering or attempting to enter, maintaining or attempting to
maintain, enforcing or attempting to enforce, or threatening to enforce
a No-Hire Agreement, or communicating to a customer or any other person
that any Adamas employee is subject to a No-Hire Agreement.
Paragraph III.A of the proposed Order requires Respondents to
provide written notice to customers that are subject to No-Hire
Agreements that (i) the restriction is null and void, and (ii) any
customer or a subsequent building services contractor for a customer is
no longer subject to the restrictions or penalties related to the No-
Hire Agreements in Respondents' contracts.
Paragraph III.B of the proposed Order requires Respondents to
provide written notices to employees who are subject to a No-Hire
Agreement. Paragraph III.C requires that Respondents post clear and
conspicuous notice that employees are not subject to No-Hire Agreements
and may seek or accept a job with the building directly, or any company
that wins the building's business.
Paragraphs IV.A and IV.B of the proposed Order require that
Respondents immediately cease enforcing No-Hire Agreements and, within
30 days after the Order is issued, provide key employees of Respondents
with a copy of the Order and Complaint. Paragraphs IV.C-E set forth
Respondents' ongoing compliance obligations.
Other paragraphs contain standard provisions regarding compliance
reports, requirements for Respondents to provide notice to the FTC of
material changes to their business, and access for the FTC to documents
and personnel. The term of the proposed Order is ten years.
The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the
Consent Agreement and proposed Order to aid the Commission in
determining whether it should make the proposed Order final. This
analysis is not an official interpretation of the proposed Order and
does not modify its terms in any way.
By direction of the Commission.
April J. Tabor,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2025-23716 Filed 12-22-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 23, 2025.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.