Apple and Google to settle poaching lawsuit for $415 million

Google, Apple, Intel and Adobe apparently don't want to go to trial in April over a no-poaching class action lawsuit, filed by over 60,000 employees several years ago as the companies have all agreed to a $415 million settlement deal.

The four tech giants originally offered $324.5 million to settle last year but court judge, Lucy Koh, turned it down and believed the plaintiffs deserved a lot more than that. However, the $415 million is still a lot less than the $3 billion originally sought after.

Image source.

This no-poaching lawsuit came about as during 2005 and 2009, Intel, Apple, Adobe and Google, along with several other companies including Pixar and Lucasfilm, had an agreement not to steal each other's employees.

The 60,000 employees that are part of this class action suit, claim that the companies agreed not to poach eachother's employees in order to keep salaries low. Lucasfilm, Pixar and Intuit have already settled this lawsuit for $20 million and the no-poaching agreement is no longer in place.

However, due to how large companies like Google, Intel and Apple are, it has taken much longer for a settlement to be agreed upon.

Despite being on the losing side, an Intel spokesperson insisted to Cnet that the companies involved had done nothing wrong: “We deny the allegations contained in the suit and we deny that we violated any laws or that we have any obligation to the plaintiff. We elected to settle the matter in order to avoid the risk, burdens and uncertainty of ongoing litigation.”

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: With this class action lawsuit being so huge, a $415 million settlement should net each participant around $6,900. Although that number may well end up being less due to other fees involved.

Source: Reuters
Via: Engadget

Become a Patron!