Judge OKs class action wage suit against Apple, others

[Jeffrey Walton <noloader () gmail com>]

This was kind of interesting. Its not enough some of these companies
have folks on Full Disclosure and Bugtraq doing their security work
for free.... They have to enter into anti-competitive arrangements to
suppress tech worker wages, too.


http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57609351-38/judge-oks-class-action-wage-suit-against-apple-others/

A federal judge has given the green light on a class action suit in
California that accuses tech juggernauts of conspiring to eliminate
the competition for employees by fixing wages and agreeing not to
actively recruit from each other.

US District Court Judge Lucy H. Koh granted the plaintiffs' motion
late Thursday night to certify the lawsuit against Adobe, Apple,
Google, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm, and Pixar, according to a court
document. The plaintiffs, former employees of the named companies,
accuse the companies of carrying out this "interconnected web" of
agreements between 2005 and 2009.

"We have always actively and aggressively recruited top talent," said
a Google spokeswoman in response to CNET.

Adobe, Apple, and Intel declined to comment. CNET has contacted the
other companies involved in the suit and we'll update if we hear back.

The companies tried to argue that it wouldn't be fair to hear the case
as a class action suit because salaries and other compensation vary
from one employee to another and the evidence presented by the
plaintiffs is "unpersuasive."

Koh disagreed and wrote, "Defendants cannot rebut the voluminous
documentary evidence from Defendants' internal files and the expert
reports that rely on this documentary evidence."

The partially redacted court document gave some examples to illustrate
what effect these companies have on the overall job market. One
example included Google's reaction to Facebook cold-calling its
engineers.

Google's approach involved asking its competition to stop as an
option, in addition to considering giving employees an incentive to
stay or launching an "aggressive campaign" to go after Facebook's
employees in response.

When then Google Recruiting Director Arnnon Geshuri found out that
Facebook was cold-calling Google engineers in March 2008, Geshuri's
first response was to call Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and ask her to
stop and establish "a mutual 'Do Not Call' agreement," according to
the court document.

As the competition heated up, Google Advisor Bill Campbell, who is
also chairman of Intuit's board of directors and co-lead director of
Apple's board, respond to an e-mail about Facebook's recruiting
efforts with, "Who should contact Sheryl [Sandberg] (or [Facebook
founder] Mark [Zuckerberg]) to get a cease fire? We have to get a
truce."

Facebook, which is not involved in the case, didn't stop and continued
to poach employees. This set off a chain reaction. Google ultimately
increased its salaries by 10 percent and added an immediate cash bonus
of $1,000. It subsequently forced Apple to pay its employees more as
well.

The attorney representing the plaintiffs, Kelly Dermody of Lieff
Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, was, not surprisingly, pleased
about the case moving forward. "We appreciate the Court's careful and
comprehensive review of the record and look forward to seeking justice
for our clients at trial," Dermody said in a statement.
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