Apple, Google, Adobe and Intel have agreed to pay US$324.5 million in a settlement over their agreement to not poach employees from each other. Silicon Valley employees who felt their suffered from artificially capped pay because of the practice had hoped for a $3 billion payout.
Employee anti-poaching settlement comes in at $324.5 million
News of the settlement came in April, but until now the actual dollar amount was a secret. Participants in the Federal class action lawsuit are expected to get a few thousand dollars each, according to the Los Angeles Times.
That's far below what the workers say they were cheated out of, although it is better than the settlement value they received in their California case, which was nothing.
According to the lawsuit, Apple and several other tech companies agreed to not hire employees away from each other in an anti-poaching pact. By doing so, the employees argue, they weren't able to make as much money as they otherwise would have.
The settlement lets the companies avoid potentially embarrassing details from emerging at trial, and it avoids the possibility of triple damages from antitrust law violations.
Intuit, Pixar, and Lucasfilm were also named in the lawsuit. They previously agreed to a $20 million settlement to avoid going to trial.