Post by Aiden on Jun 20, 2014 23:30:14 GMT 8
Last month, it was reported that Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe had agreed to a US$324 million (S$406 million) settlement for a class action lawsuit levied against them for alleged anti-poaching practices. The settlement was confirmed by court documents filed and subsequently forwarded to U.S District Judge Lucy Koh for approval. Reuters is now reporting that Koh has raised concerns over the settlement, question whether it is indeed “fair to the class”.
Koh explained at a court hearing yesterday that the plaintiffs had “leverage” going into trial against the tech companies, “given the strength of the evidence in the case”. The judge added that she had not decided whether to approve the settlement, but that she found it praise-worthy for allowing the plaintiffs to recover some money. According to the report, workers could receive “a few thousand dollars each on average”.
The lawsuit, which dates back to 2011, arose from allegations that the four tech giants had entered into anti-poaching agreements that barred solicitation of one another’s employees, in what was seen as an apparent bid to avert a salary war. The tech companies’ case was further worsened when email correspondences between Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs and then-Google CEO Eric Schmidt were tabled as court evidence.
In one of the exchanges, Schmidt was shown as apologising to Jobs for a Google recruiter’s mistake in attempting to hire a former Apple engineer, which would have been in violation of the alleged anti-poaching agreement between both companies. Upon learning that Schmidt had fired the recruiter involved, Jobs forwarded Schmidt’s email to a senior Apple HR executive with nothing but a simple smiley face.
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A U.S. judge on Thursday said she had concerns about approving a $324.5 million settlement involving Apple, Google and two other tech companies in a lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to avoid poaching each other’s workers.
Koh explained at a court hearing yesterday that the plaintiffs had “leverage” going into trial against the tech companies, “given the strength of the evidence in the case”. The judge added that she had not decided whether to approve the settlement, but that she found it praise-worthy for allowing the plaintiffs to recover some money. According to the report, workers could receive “a few thousand dollars each on average”.
The lawsuit, which dates back to 2011, arose from allegations that the four tech giants had entered into anti-poaching agreements that barred solicitation of one another’s employees, in what was seen as an apparent bid to avert a salary war. The tech companies’ case was further worsened when email correspondences between Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs and then-Google CEO Eric Schmidt were tabled as court evidence.
In one of the exchanges, Schmidt was shown as apologising to Jobs for a Google recruiter’s mistake in attempting to hire a former Apple engineer, which would have been in violation of the alleged anti-poaching agreement between both companies. Upon learning that Schmidt had fired the recruiter involved, Jobs forwarded Schmidt’s email to a senior Apple HR executive with nothing but a simple smiley face.
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