https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/04/24/306592297/tech-giants-settle-wage-fixing-lawsuit

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Tech Giants Settle Wage-Fixing Lawsuit : The Two-Way The suit alleged
Google, Apple Intel and Adobe agreed not to recruit each others
employees in order to drive down wages.
The Two-Way

The Two-Way

America

Tech Giants Settle Wage-Fixing Lawsuit

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April 24, 20148:42 PM ET
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Executive Chairman of Google Eric Schmidt speaks at the Chinese
University in Hong Kong in November of 2013. Philippe Lopez /AFP/
Getty Images hide caption

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Philippe Lopez /AFP/Getty Images

Executive Chairman of Google Eric Schmidt speaks at the Chinese
University in Hong Kong in November of 2013.

Philippe Lopez /AFP/Getty Images

Google, Apple, Intel, and Adobe have decided to settle a lawsuit
brought by 64,000 employees, who accused the companies of conspiring
on a scheme that would drive down wages.

The lawsuit claims that the companies agreed not to recruit each
others' employees. The Wall Street Journal reports that while the
terms of the suit were not revealed, it has learned it involves a
$325 million payout.

The paper adds:

    "During pretrial proceedings in the class-action antitrust case,
    emails from top executives including the late Mr. Jobs, Google
    co-founder Sergey Brin and then-CEO Eric Schmidt surfaced,
    showing the executives conferred on hiring plans, sometimes
    through intermediaries. An attorney for the plaintiffs said
    questioning the executives before a jury would have been
    probable.

    "The defendants recently filed motions seeking to exclude
    evidence--including testimony that made Mr. Jobs appear to be a
    'bully.'

    "'Steve being agitated was not unusual,' Mr. Brin testified in a
    deposition, discussing Mr. Jobs's phone calls to Google
    executives about not "poaching" workers. Spokespeople for the
    defendants said that avoiding that kind of testimony and having
    executives appear on the witness stand made a settlement
    attractive.

In one particularly damning email, Eric Schmidt of Google tells Steve
Jobs that a recruiter who contacted an Apple employee had violated
the agreement and would be terminated "within the hour."

Jobs responded with a smiley face.

The lawsuit was filed in 2011 for a scheme that allegedly ran from
2005 to 2009.

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