Google and Apple stand to face more serious financial consequences than $324.5M would cover. The suit covers damages done to over 60,000 employees and alleges that the two technology brands conspired to blacklist their top workers from getting better job offers elsewhere.
U.S. District Judge Judge Lucy Koh denied a settlement amount that was reached in April, thereby extending a case that’s already three years in the making. She estimated that the workers deserved $380M, a considerable jump from April’s estimate, considering the fact that the earning potential of the employees was serious undermined due to underhanded business practices.
Lawyers that represented the employees previously sought after $3B in damages before whittling it down to 10 % of that amount. It’s estimated that if Koh awarded the $324.5M, that after lawyer’s fees and other fees, that workers would receive just $3,750, which she felt was way too low. According to her, that number “falls below the level of reasonableness.”
Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe Systems, Intuit, Pixar Animation and Lucasfilm would have to foot the bill, as they’d been cited for secretly agreeing not to recruit one another’s employees for various time frames between 2005 and 2009.
Koh said that there was a strong case made against Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe, adding that “There is ample evidence of an overarching conspiracy,” in her ruling. Koh highlighted Steve Job’s practices in action as an integral part of why the lawsuit was coming to fruition at this point. Koh stated that “he was a, if not the, central figure in the alleged conspiracy.”
Featured image via flickr/Robert Scoble
