Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE), and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) are the four latest tech giants that are being accused of conspiring in proximity to control job mobility and control employee salaries.
According to the plaintiffs, these tech firms worked together to avoid poaching one another’s employees and it helped the companies in maintaining cap over employee salaries. Some of the high-paid tech workers at these companies filed the case in 2011 and the case is under close monitoring by several groups because of the high damages likely to be awarded to the plaintiffs.
In the recent development, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE), and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) have agreed to a new settlement. Earlier last year, Lucy Koh, U.S. District Judge in San Jose, California, rejected a $324.5 million settlement considering it too low after objections from one of the plaintiffs.
There were no official confirmations from any of the involved companies or plaintiffs either. It all started after the discovery of emails exchanged between Steve Jobs, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) co-founder, Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), and other high-end management personnel.
Koh is expecting a higher settlement amount and after considering the 2013 settlement by Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) and Intuit, Koh said that the amount should at least be more than $380 million.
According to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE), and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), the plaintiffs would file the details of the latest deal shortly for review.
As per the class lawsuit, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) along with other tech companies blocked over 60,000 positions involving high-tech employees. The initial complaint asked for damages as high as $3 billion and if the appeal would have been passed, the companies might have to pay $9 billion.
This article has been written by Prakash Pandey.
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