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$415 Million Settlement Approved In Tech Worker Anti-Poaching Case
An anonymous reader writes: Adobe, Apple, Google, and Intel have been embroiled in a high-profile court case accusing them of creating anti-poaching agreements in an attempt to keep tech industry salaries under control. Now, Judge Lucy Koh has ruled that the $415 million settlement against the tech giants is fair, and will stand. Koh also cut in half the amount awarded to the attorneys in the case. The lawsuit was a class-action originally joined by about 64,000 workers. Other companies were involved with the case, and reached settlements earlier, and a few members of the class action may opt out of any settlement. But the remaining members will only get something in the vicinity of $6,000 apiece for the damage done to their earnings.
In America, anti-competitive practices between corporations are illegal. It doesn't matter if they are bidding on the same job and agree to "not compete on this one", bidding on the same employees, or simply saying "don't contact my {insert [vendor / employee / distribution] channels} and I won't contact yours."
Yes, corps can do it and get away with it every day! But if caught they might land themselves a nice fine (see above), or even worse, some time in jail. The corps have quashed the second option for just about any crime they commit, so you are stuck with the first option.
One has got to imagine though, between these practices, H1Bs, 80 hour work weeks, and other wage-lowering standards in the tech field, how many Billions these corps have saved, reinvested, and reaped as untold wealth, while only having their feet held to the fire for about 100m each in this case. They are sure to invent some fascinating practices to hold wages down further in the coming years.
Enjoy your hot soup. cause that's all they serve. on the soup line.
When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
81 mil would be a good pay day but 40 mil not bad for the lawyers
What, 8%? Rough day in court for them. Only $31 Million - and, that includes their photocopying costs.
Might as well face it I'm addicted to data.
"Only $6000"
Maybe this is because I'm not an Apple/Google/Intel employee, but if I got $6k handed to me, I'd be psyched.
From the article in the 2nd link:
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs had requested around $81 million in fees. But Koh nixed that amount, saying it would be a "windfall" for the lawyers and instead awarded them $40 million.
Way to go judge!
On the other hand, even $40M is probably too high for the amount of work done and risk taken.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
If your interested in learning more details on the things the big companys got up to including companies like Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks heres a link to Pandos library of stories they did on the events that occurred. https://pando.com/tag/techtopus/
See subject: Like CEO's make? Single coders don't have the $ corporations do (though in a court of law they are considered a 'person' they ARE A COLLECTIVE)!
So YOU are being just a "wee bit" UNFAIR, don't you think?
* I do...
(I'm sure others here will agree on that much with me also)
APK
P.S.=> Oddest part is, I come from working class roots & am a business owner myself. Even I think what you're saying is unfair based on my statements above... apk
so the next time around, we won't be able to sue. The Republicans hate technology therefore they hate us. Never vote for one of their kind.
Will you go away with your republican bashing? You have to make every story into a political debate and it is always the republicans fault according to you.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Make the settlement $100k for each victim, and maybe $2 million for the lawyers.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
What you describe is like what I've seen on industrial waste disposal fines - a big pharmaceutical concern in my area (who shall remain nameless here of course) I KNOW OF wantonly spew nasty chemicals into a nearby water source (a stream): They go to a nearby "how do I clean it up" firm who does a BIG WRITEUP for the courts on how they "WILL DO IT THAT WAY" but they never do, they pay the fine & just KEEP ON DUMPING!
Why?
* It's CHEAPER TO PAY THE FINES than to actually dispose of it properly is why!
This goes on endlessly - there is NO JUSTICE, plenty of "law" though..."LAW" written by the wealthy, FOR THE WEALTHY!
APK
P.S.=> The wealthy 1% - Who, face it, control societies & always have & will THRU the "Holy Dollar" by paying out peanuts which you allude to since to make money, you HAVE to spend it) & write laws in their favor after all the "lobbyists" (bribers) go thru their motions buying off anyone & everyone in their way!
(God help you IF you attempt to 'chop down their money tree' with a BETTER product or way of doing things too! Smear campaigns GALORE result then, lol!)
Hey... who cares if you're poisoning the air & water! THE BONUSES MUST BE MADE in a world of greed largely due to over-indebtedness those @ the top bury themselves in & yes, even THEY do that, causing their greed...
See - Imo, most folks think that type has "all the money in the world", & spend their own - they do not! Instead, they take out loans based on equities in that money + other collateral (provided they're not "upside-down" still on it owing more than the principal) & they go bad? They bankrupt & bury it after hiding monies in offshore accounts + asset transfers WAY in advance!
(... + they have to PAY MASSIVE BRIBES to the politicians too - that "big money"? It's not as BIG as you'd think - hence, the 'greed' games)... apk
Just to be clear, you're proposing a nearly $6 billion raise to the settlement payout offset by a $.038b reduction in payment to the lawyers.
Regardless if the proposed settlement amount is fair, the lawyer payment reduction basically would have no effect.
-=Lothsahn=-
Yes, I want a pony, too!
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Make the settlement $100k for each victim, and maybe $2 million for the lawyers.
Well now. That's practically un-American suggesting such a thing. Our legal system would collapse if lawyers had to starve like that.
I'm a tech worker. I used to work for Intel. How do I get some of this?
Regardless if the proposed settlement amount is fair, the lawyer payment reduction basically would have no effect.
I think the effect would be to make the parent feel better because he does not care much for lawyers.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
No, shut down the businesses involved, sell off their assets to the highest bidders, and jail all high-level management for at least a decade.
Those rich fucks are huge flight risks and people within the companies will be scrambling to shred and burn evidence and cover up hidden assets, so time your sentencing announcement with the arrival time of a tank battalion at their offices.
They have created the fairy tale of the STEM shortage. In a few years, kids will be coming out of school with their STEM degree and there will be few jobs that pay shit.
It happened with nurses. Years ago, kids wanted a guaranteed job and flocked into nursing schools because of the so called shortage. Today, we have the worst job market for nurses EVER.
Tech companies are all bullshitters when it comes to their employment practices and all of them are guilty and should be fined.
Not only is this a slap on the wrist, it's actually encouragement for continuing the practice. A company can pay $5000/employee to save many times that amount. The ROI on this practice must have the CFOs drooling.
Also, I wonder if the $41 million not going to the lawyers ends up with the plaintiffs or the companies.
Of course, this entire decision is a laughable farce. The judge considered $4000/person unfair but $5000/person fair. I never went to law school, but that type of judgment is baffling to me.
So, to sum up, legally the companies lost, the lawyers won/lost, and the plaintiffs won, but in the real world, the companies won, the lawyers won, and the plaintiffs lost.
> You have to make every story into a political debate
No, it is the Republicans that make everything about politics. Everything. They are simple minded so they only think of one thing at a time. That is the way of their kind.
it is always the republicans fault according to you.
No, it is always the Republican's fault according to any thinking people. Stupid people are easily manipulated by Republicans so they, like you, doesn't understand what his happening. They control nearly every aspect of our lives. They hate us and want us to suffer. That is why their corporations collude to do this to us. They are doing this to us.
> ...make every story into a political debate...
Huh? This is a very political topic. Why shouldn't we talk about the political aspect of something that is political? You are being illogical. The Republicans that rule corporations are always against the workers. That is why they're anti-union. They want workers to be as poor as possible and to suffer. That is why, for example, Apple is ripping off engineers by paying them less than market. They are stealing from their engineers. This is so Republican of them.
Didn't this effectively lower wages across the whole industry? What about people who worked for competitors who ended up being paid less because Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel had deflated wages?
They need to take the estimated wages lost from this practice to each employee TRIPLE that, then add in the lawyers fees and punitive fines afterward.
Fining me 416 million don't mean 2 squirts or piss if it saved me a couple billion in the process. All that would mean is I would continue to do it as I would still get ahead when I was caught and then just work harder at avoiding being caught.
Until the fines are worse than the savings or there is extensive prison time involved,it won't stop
... we can assume that the company's ill-gotten gains are at least in the five billion range.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
I work at a private company in the DC area that builds systems for um- the government. I have been in the industry for 35 years and I am quite good at what I do.
I am very, very, lucky to have my job.
In this rare case, the employees who didn't join the class may win, as they can pursue larger settlements with a very well formed case laid at their feet.
Everyone - unions, CEOs, Democrats, Republicans, even lol cats agree that greenwow is an idiot.
Nuuuuuh, UUUUUH! It's the democrats fault, according to every person with a brain who also isn't a child molester. Democrats want to rape your ass, kill your dog while driving drunk on a steamroller and laugh at disabled children. House Of Cards PROOOOOOOVES how EVIL all democrats are. Everyone in prison raping other prisoners is a dirty, rotten, filthy stinking democrat. A democrat cut me off this morning, then plowed down a bunch of first graders getting on a school bus. And a democrat cop just laughed and said, "Duuuuuuuh! Ha haaaaaa. Those fuckin' re-pube-lickin kids deserved it". Democrats aren't even human. They're mutants who want everyone to live in sewers where they can rape them in the ass more easily.
If only the people running the companies were republicans! Then you could properly blame them!
Yep, Sergei and Larry have learned that being evil can fatten their billions oh so sweetly. The fine is only a light tax on the takings.
But, hey! It was cool slogan when they were just breaking into the market.
Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
The whole lawsuit is about companies illegally colluding to save billions of dollars in salaries. That practice is still equally wrong, whether those workers are tech workers or fast food employees.
I am a Republican and I work in tech and make good money. I also have been coding since I could type on a keyboard.
Trust me, Republicans who know tech pay just as well as Democrats. Actually, if you look at some of the Democrats out there, the Republicans may even pay better.
So, fuck off.
Just get them to employ fair employment practices and no one has to get hurt here.
When tank battalions start rolling, *everyone* gets fucked. Let's not call for that. Thanks.
even though they are breaking the law... the reason why people don't get arrested is that you'd have to explain spell out the law out to a DA when it concerns his golf-buddies...
Parent's subject was "too low for victims and too high for lawyers." Parent proposed increasing payout for the victims and reducing payout to the lawyers. What part of that did you fail to comprehend?
OHHHHH, you thought the two should balance. Maybe instead you should look at the Net Income Available to Shareholders figures for the four companies for 2014 (65.2 Billion) and then realize that 445 Million is almost a rounding error, and you too might agree that the class should be paid more. Whether you care about the lawyers is up to you, but 40 million seems an insane amount to me.
Bullshit. If you were a Republican, by definition you would be shitty at any tech job because you're illogical and stupid. That proves you a liar. A liar. You Republicans lie constantly. You hate the truth. Hate it. You are not paid well, and you know damn well you are not. Republicans are stupid so they end-up in very high positions in corporations. They get promoted for being stupid. Your kind rules us because you are stupid.
The judge and lawyers very conveniently overlooked most of the injured victims. Every single tech worker in the US was hurt by this, since these giant firms are part of the calculation of "prevailing wages" against which most tech worker pay and benefit packages are scaled.
By suppressing wages and benefits at their firms, they not only allowed their execs and share holders to pocket more cash, but they hurt EVERYBODY else in tech, and not just one year's worth of damage... The impact is cumulative over an entire career
Somehow, I suspect that if an organized and illegal corporate scheme had pushed down the pay of all the lawyers and judges in the nation, the amount of the penalty would be FAR higher and more people would get a benefit from it.
The only ones who get fucked are the ones the tanks roll toward.
Fact: Every major conflict in human history has been solved through violence.
Did meg Whitman and eBay already bribe the justice department? Why aren't they listed here?
Shut up you wheezing little cunt.
Go for it cunt. You rabble sure do talk tough but the extent of your hard core revolutionary fight is playing the bongos and ranting over megaphones. Oh and smelling like day old shit.
By all means talk tough on Slashdot though about your war on the rich. I'm not rich but I pick their side over yours.
You sound pretty stupid and have apparently never heard of the smell test.
Tell me does your idea that our salaries would be e.g. $30k higher now if only these companies had actively poached back then pass the smell test? No. It does not.
And those that got screwed get $0. The government gets big $$$. And the companies laugh at the results and find another way to do the same shit.
You sound pretty stupid and have apparently never heard of the smell test.
Tell me does your idea that our salaries would be e.g. $30k higher now if only these companies had actively poached back then pass the smell test? No. It does not.
Ahh, yes, the smell test, that bastion of truth. Why don't we use the smell test to settle arguments more often? Well, proponents of this technique implicitly mean only their noses are accurate.
Well, my inaccurate nose says that contrary to your wishes, the ghosts of Adam Smith and his pesky supply and demand ideas resulted in lost wages for the affected plaintiffs. That Jobs et al. may have actually cared more about avoiding turnover in their organizations and about the thrill of pulling marionette strings doesn't diminish the economic losses of the plaintiffs.
Of course, there is also the pesky inconvenience of trial testimony (e.g., the story of Mr. Hullot's team that never was and whose potential members suffered measurable economic damages), but certainly noses trump trial testimony.
Fact: Every major conflict in human history has been solved through violence.
Well then, how about :
- The Cold War
- South African Apartheid
- The British occupation of India
See subject: It's merely stating reality we both see or have seen I suppose (& so has everyone else).
APK
P.S.=> Nothing to disagree about when it's factual reality & truth... apk
For software engineers heading large projects, it could have been far higher than $30k per year.
But lets go ahead and say it was just a $5k per year difference. Notice the emphasis? This wasn't something that Apple and Google tried for a fiscal year, this went on for some time. Which means a $5k payout isn't close to being compensatory, much less punitive.
The Soviet Union fell after being drawn into the violent quagmire of Afghanistan. The United States would be in the same position, if it actually gave a fuck to it's stated goals of making a stable government and protecting human rights, rather than just protecting access to natural resources.
Only ended with the threat of violence. Brutal colonialist occupiers DGAF about your non-violent protests - just ask the Israelis who bomb Gaza when the Palestinians have become too non-violent, as they did with Operation Cast Lead, when even the IDF admits that Hamas had been observing a truce.
Gandhi's protests were a demonstration of power, not acquiescence. GTFO or hordes of my people will overwhelm and massacre your occupying asses. And everyone knows that Nelson Mandela was called a terrorist by the CIA, for decades - because he dared use violence to fight his people's oppressors. Which is why the white South African government backed down, to avoid the inevitable regional and civil war.
With class action lawsuits, the lawyers bear all of the costs and all of the risks if the lawsuit fails. Yes, $5k for each worker is a pittance based on what the companies kept from their paychecks, but they got something for nothing.
Don't like it - higher your own damn lawyer, and shoulder your own damn risk. Which in a case like this would involve tens of thousands in legal fees, and if you won your payout would come out of AppFaGoogle's penny jar without them even noticing.
$400 million is a joke, but at least the companies involved noticed, and might not doing it again. You as an individual win $40k plus attorneys fees, they would never notice.