In 2011, tech employees levied aclass action anti-poaching lawsuitagainst Apple, Google, and other companies. The suit covered more than 60,000 workers, who claimed the firms conspired to keep their salaries lower by entering in a non-poach agreement with one another.
It wasreported in Aprilthat Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe had reached a settlement for $324 million, but apparently Judge Lucy Koh (yes,thatJudge Koh) didn’t like that number. Judge Koh officially rejected the proposed offer today, saying that it needed to be higher…
Bloombergreports:
Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc. (GOOG), Intel Corp. (INTC) and Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) failed to win approval of a settlement of claims they schemed to not recruit each other’s workers because a judge said employees deserve more than $324.5 million.
U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh in San Jose, California, today ruled that the amount to be paid by the technology giants was insufficient in light of a $20 million settlement reached earlier with three other companies sued by employees — Intuit Inc. (INTU) and Walt Disney Co. (DIS)’s animation studio Pixar and visual-effects specialist Lucasfilm Ltd.
In her ruling, which you can read here, Judge Koh states that using the Disney-Pixar settlement as a yardstick, the appropriate benchmark settlement for this lawsuit would be at least $380 million, that’s a good $50 million more than what the tech companies are currently offering.
It’s still considerably less than the $3 billion in damages the plaintiffs were originally seeking, though, which they could’ve had a shot at if the case had went to trial. That, of course, is still a possibility after today’s rejection, but there’s a good chance neither side wants it to come to that.
