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Microsoft, Ask.com, Oracle Latest To Be Sued Over No-Poach Deal
itwbennett (1594911) writes Oracle, Microsoft and Ask.com are facing suits alleging that they conspired to restrict hiring of staff. The suits appear to refer to a memo that names a large number of companies that allegedly had special arrangements with Google to prevent poaching of staff and was filed as an exhibit on May 17, 2013 in another class action suit over hiring practices. The former employees filing lawsuits against Microsoft, Ask.com and Oracle have asked that the cases be assigned to Judge Koh as there were similarities with the case against Google, Apple and others — and it maybe doesn't hurt that Judge Koh thought the $324.5 million settlement in that case was too low.
eat shit or don't eat?
Ask.com still exists?
When they signed their contract they missed that checkbox that said "change my employment preference to lock to this company". There was so much legalese to scroll through.
The memo only talks about executives and product managers. Engineers (at ANY level) are explicitly excluded from the agreement (that is, they can be recruited at will), as well as any product "contributors".
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
Um. Except for the employees. Probably the customers too. Probably most of the shareholders too.
Those employees were willing to work for the salaries they got, as demonstrated by the fact that they DID accept that salary. Obviously they felt the agreement with their employer was worthwhile enough to engage in: they'd provide their services in exchange for $X/year.
Where $X puts them usually in the upper few percent of the population.
So what's the problem? If they didn't think the deal was acceptable, they didn't have to take it, but they did take it, therefore they thought it was an acceptable deal.
It's like... if I voluntary chose to pay $20K for a car, then by definition I believe the car is worth at least $20K to me. I don't get to turn around later and sue Toyota because the next guy got the same car for $19K. The price he paid doesn't change that I entered freely into an agreement and elected of my own volition to pay $20K for the car.
This is why I'm opposed to all those "learn to code" programs Zuck and friends keep hyping. The people at the top of the tech industry are not content with their billions. They want your thousands, too. There is a concerted effort under way to push your wages down, take that money and throw it onto their own already huge piles. No poaching deals. H1B visas. "STEM shortage," "coder shortage" bullshit. It's all part of the same offensive. It is class warfare and their class is winning.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
The settlement offer the lawyers wanted to take was WAY too low. After the agreement collapsed Google alone had to give their entire staff a $10k year raise, and they think less than $5k per person for multiple years is sufficient? Everyone should be getting $10k per year minimum. Lawyer fees should be capped and be above and beyond payment to the class holders. Only if these companies have to give every employee affected by this $50 or $100K in damages will this set a precedent that will prevent future abuses.
"Permanent Temporary Workers"... yeah
Except the car markers aren't colluding on the price. Even if you thought it was a fair deal at the time, you can sue them for collusion.
That's right - that means YOU, Bill Gates!
The class should be expanded to cover everyone in the profession not just employees of the companies. Many more people were damaged by this illegal conspiracy because these companies were in large part influencing the setting of wages for the industry. By illegally restraining trade they illegally depressed salaries for the entire market.
Idiots like you are a huge part of the problem. Stop claiming capitalism is the problem when the US is not operating as a Capitalist economy. At best, the US can be said to be operating under crony capitalism, but it's not capitalism.
The cure for your ignorance is to at least read and try and comprehend Adam Smith's work, or even a more modern Economist with an in depth understanding of Capitalism like Milton Friedman.
To compare how stupid your statement is, consider that the DPRK calls itself a "Republic" just like the US is a Republic. Any idiot looking at the DPRK knows it's a dictatorship even though it's obviously not.
By similar terms, anyone that has read Adam Smith/Milton Friedman should know by looking at the US that even though it calls itself Capitalist, it is absolutely not.
Not including the CEOs vehement condemnations of the practice makes this just more commie propaganda.
Tell it to the share holders Bub. There's no requirement of anything but risk assessment, cost benefit analysis, and performance measured as ROI, in the British/American system of economics. Neither morality nor concern for health, safety or welfare are required under this system, itself. According to the Chicago School boys, these are costs to be avoided or externalized whenever possible, even when they are imposed by law. Milton Friedman argued that the possibility of profit could justifiably outweigh such penalties and justify the risk. And as we have all seen from the likes of Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Bernie Madoff, Stephen Cohen, Countrywide Mortgage, JP Morgan, the corruption of the Fed, the IMF and the World Bank, the system of amorality has been internalized quite effectively. The Chinese now epitomize the idolization of our rules of engagement.
Entrpreneurialism is the platitudinous answer to all the unhappiness of capitalism. Just start a company yourself... pull yourself up by your boot straps. Look at Jeff Bezos. 21 years of hot air and no earnings, and the 'markets' still reward themselves as share holders. As long as the balls remain aloft, the emperor's clothes are said to be opaque.
The Gods Must Be Insane...
This should be a trillion dollar suit.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
Because all they're talking about is maybe 500 senior executives. None of those companies are hiring below the executive level in the United States.