Adobe, Apple, Google, and Intel have settled a court case in the USA that claimed they’d conspired to suppress employee pay by agreeing not to actively recruit or ‘poach’ each other’s employees. The claims covered a period from 2005 until 2009.
Although the terms of the settlement are confidential at the moment, they’re due to become public when court papers are filed in May.
This case began in 2011 when a former Lucasfilm software engineer filed a lawsuit charging Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm and Pixar with violating competition law. It claimed they’d worked together to fix the pay of their employees and had set up ‘no solicitation’ agreements with each other. Similar complaints were later filed by other employees.
A settlement was reached last year with Lucasfilm, Pixar and Intuit for a total of $20 million. Government lawsuits covering similar allegations were ended when the companies concerned agreed to end their alleged anti-competition practices.
Around 64,600 people are thought to be affected by the case.
[Official US settlement administration website; Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein attorneys; detailed coverage on pando.com]