By Jeff Elder
Four Silicon Valley companies agreed to pay 64,000 current and
former workers $415 million to settle a class-action lawsuit
alleging that they conspired not to hire each other's employees,
suppressing wages from 2005 to 2009.
The proposed settlement between the workers and Apple Inc.,
Google Inc., Intel Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc. now must be
approved by a U.S. District Court judge in San Jose, Calif. The
judge rejected an earlier, $324.5 million proposal. The new
settlement was filed with the court Thursday.
Under the new proposal, workers would receive an average of
about $5,000, after attorneys' fees. Awards will vary based on an
employee's total pay at one or more of the defendant companies
during the period. Under the original proposal, the average award
would have been less than $4,000, after attorneys' fees.
In the filing, the companies denied wrongdoing. "We deny any
allegations of wrongdoing and we elected to settle this matter to
avoid the risks, burdens, and uncertainties of ongoing litigation,"
said Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman for Intel.
Representatives of Apple, Google and Adobe declined to
comment.
"We are pleased that this settlement exceeds the benchmark for
approval previously set by the court, and more importantly provides
certain, meaningful relief to the class," said Kelly Dermody, one
of the lead attorneys for the class.
In rejecting the earlier proposal in August, U.S. District Judge
Lucy Koh said workers at three other companies that previously had
settled in the same case received proportionately more money. To
reach the same rate, the judge said, the settlement "would need to
total at least $380 million."
Judge Koh ruled after one of the named plaintiffs, former Adobe
engineer Michael Devine, opposed the settlement as insufficient.
Mr. Devine said he supports the new proposed settlement.
The new deal caps fees for the attorneys of the class at $81
million, or 25% of the prior settlement amount. Mr. Devine's
attorney would receive up to an additional $4.5 million.
Mr. Devine cited the contrast between the attorneys' fees and
the average payout to workers in opposing the initial
settlement.
Without a new settlement, a trial in the case is scheduled to
start on April 10.
The suit followed a 2011 Justice Department case and claims the
companies conspired to not recruit each other's tech talent,
hurting the workers' job market and depressing wages.
The companies said the pay for workers rose during the period
covered by the suit, and any cooperation between companies didn't
hurt employees' pay.
During pretrial proceedings, emails from top executives
including the late Steve Jobs, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and
then-CEO Eric Schmidt surfaced, showing the executives conferred on
hiring plans, sometimes through intermediaries.
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