A US District Judge today approved a $415 million settlement in the no-poaching lawsuit levied at several massive tech companies, including Google, Apple and Intel. The class action lawsuit came about after it was discovered that several massive tech companies agreed to not poach employees from one another, which in turn, helped the companies involved keep wages down.
The companies involved tried to settle the suit last year with a $324 million settlement, though this was rejected by the judge, who said that the employees involved deserved more after the plaintiffs provided “ample evidence of an overarching conspiracy”.
While the $415 million settlement was improved, the plaintiffs involved in the case did request an additional $81 million in law fees, which was knocked down to $40 million. Most of the case hinged on emails sent between companies including those taking place between Steve Jobs and Google's Eric Schmidt.
Right now we don't know how much each employee involved in the case will receive. We also don't know what each employee would have been able to negotiate for themselves salary wise had this deal not been in place.
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: This no-poaching deal between companies likely limited the earning potential of plenty of employees.