Silicon Valley firms ink settlement in non-poaching case (Update)
Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe have inked a $415 million settlement over charges they colluded not to poach one another's employees, according to court documents.
The revised settlement still needs to be approved by US District Court Judge Lucy Koh, who rejected an early deal after deeming the damages to the plaintiffs in the class action suit were insufficient.
The new settlement proposes to create a cash fund of $415 million, which a legal filing boasted was $90.5 million more than the amount suggested in the original bargain.
While turning the original settlement deal away, Koh contended that the estimated 64,000 plaintiffs represented in the suit should share in at least $380 million, minus attorneys' fees.
If the revised settlement is approved by the court, the accused tech companies will avoid public airing of myriad of incriminating emails at a jury trial that would come with the risk of billions of dollars in damages.
In a class action suit filed in 2011, the titans of the tech industry were accused of hindering the mobility and salaries of the plaintiffs by agreeing not to poach each other's workers.
A first settlement offering $324.5 million in exchange for dropping the suit was signed in April 2014. But one of the plaintiffs argued it was not enough money for some of the country's richest firms, and Judge Koh agreed.
Three other companies targeted in the suit—Intuit, Lucasfilm and Pixar—had settled in 2013 for $20 million.
© 2015 AFP
