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Apple, Google and Others Set to Face Trial Over Anti-Poaching Agreements

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Apr 12, 2001
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U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ruled yesterday that Apple, Google and several other large tech companies will face a trial over "no solicitation" agreements that prevented the companies from attempting to hire away each others' employees, reports Bloomberg.

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The suit represents software and hardware engineers, programmers, animators, digital artists, Web developers and other technical professionals, according to the ruling. Kelly Dermody, a lawyer representing them, said in an e-mail that there are as many as 64,626 potential class members.

"The court finds that, based on the extensive documentary evidence, economic theory, data, and expert statistical modeling, plaintiffs' methodology demonstrates that common issues are likely to predominate over individual issues," Koh wrote in her ruling.
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According to the original lawsuit filed in 2011, the "no solicitation" agreements dated back to 2005 and were between Apple, Adobe, Google, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm, and Pixar. The agreements reportedly prevented recruiters from contacting employees at other companies who were party to the agreement, though employees were free to apply for jobs at other establishments.

The anti-poaching agreements were investigated in 2010 by the Justice Department. The claims were eventually settled, with the companies agreeing not to form no-solicitation agreements for five years.

The current lawsuit is a class-action civil suit representing over 64,000 technical employees who said they were harmed by the anti-competitive actions of the defendant companies. According to SFGate, Judge Koh has scheduled the trial for next May, but it is also possible that it could be delayed by possible appeals from the defendant companies.

Article Link: Apple, Google and Others Set to Face Trial Over Anti-Poaching Agreements
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/25/apple-google-and-others-set-to-face-trial-over-anti-poaching-agreements/
Good. Enabling more competition for valuable technical staff will require these companies to raise wages and provide other benefits to their employees.

The market has to work both ways: employees are under competitive pressure to adjust their demands, and employers should be under just as much pressure to adjust theirs.
 
Baseless accusations as far as Apple is concerned. Not so sure about the others though.
 
Colino said:
Baseless accusations as far as Apple is concerned. Not so sure about the others though.
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And you know this because..... oh right, because in your mind, Apple can do no wrong.

Please grow up and start living in the real world. It's a corporation, like any other. They will screw over their employees to further their own interests just as fast as any other corporation. Which is to say, instantly.
 
tbrand7 said:
wow - BAD JUDGES
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We'll see what your opinion is if you ever get a job that you wish to transition out of, and suddenly find that no other company in your field will give you an interview.

Try not to be so simplistic in your idiotic analyses.
 
pirateyarrr said:
And you know this because..... oh right, because in your mind, Apple can do no wrong.

Please grow up and start living in the real world. It's a corporation, like any other. They will screw over their employees to further their own interests just as fast as any other corporation. Which is to say, instantly.
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pirateyarrr said:
We'll see what your opinion is if you ever get a job that you wish to transition out of, and suddenly find that no other company in your field will give you an interview.

Try not to be so simplistic in your idiotic analyses.
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Lol, your posting style is perfect for Macrumors... thanks for "keepin it real"!
 
The problem is when employers force employees to sign this agreement it is against the California labour law.....so how many such employees going to show their agreements with Calif State Labour department?
 
Fanaticalism said:
Lol, your posting style is perfect for Macrumors... thanks for "keepin it real"!
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That looked like an attempt at sarcasm. What your actual point is, I don't know.

What I do know is, I use Macs, I've used them for almost two decades, so I've seen some ups and downs. I don't religiously devote myself to Macs but I do browse this site every few days, among many other sites that I check out.

If you believe only fanbois should be posting on Macrumors, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to it. Of course, everyone has opinions, just like everyone has a certain posterior-located body part.
 
pirateyarrr said:
That looked like an attempt at sarcasm. What your actual point is, I don't know.

What I do know is, I use Macs, I've used them for almost two decades, so I've seen some ups and downs. I don't religiously devote myself to Macs but I do browse this site every few days, among many other sites that I check out.

If you believe only fanbois should be posting on Macrumors, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to it. Of course, everyone has opinions, just like everyone has a certain posterior-located body part.
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Whoops! Not sarcasm! I do not sit firmly in any one ecosystem and I believe that being modular is important which easier to do than ever with cross platform integration.

I found your posts to be a blunt dose of necessity!
 
My bad. Tough to read between the lines sometimes, since this place seems to be 90% "I'll defend Apple to the death no matter what the facts are."

My apologies.
 
wikiverse said:
California's Antitrust Laws.

http://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/pdfs/antitrust/antitrust.pdf

See the Section "Other agreements among competitors" and "As a businessperson or an employee of a
business "
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I understand the loss of potential income by these tech employees' inability to move up in their field by changing employers and negotiating better wages, but this scenario is not specifically covered by the above antitrust laws of the state of California, which are mainly focussing on consumer pricing and contract bidding.

The "Other agreements among competitors" section also specifically states "Joint ventures undertaken by competitors can be legal, within certain limits", so it will be interesting to see how this will be interpreted by the courts.
 
pirateyarrr said:
We'll see what your opinion is if you ever get a job that you wish to transition out of, and suddenly find that no other company in your field will give you an interview.

Try not to be so simplistic in your idiotic analyses.
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Did you even read the article? The employee is free game if they take the initiative. The agreement was against active recruitment.
 
This is Exhibit A for frivolous lawsuits. Who exactly is being damaged here, employees of the companies who were denied the chance to be poached? Do these people have no idea how hard it is to get a job anywhere, let alone at an elite tech company? This is the last thing anybody working at those places should be complaining about. There are plenty of really smart, skilled, educated, and accomplished people who would kill to work there.

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pirateyarrr said:
We'll see what your opinion is if you ever get a job that you wish to transition out of, and suddenly find that no other company in your field will give you an interview.

Try not to be so simplistic in your idiotic analyses.
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You're wrong, the article specifically said that employees could apply for and receive interviews, if you must use a strawman argument please try to make it a little more challenging to see through and a little less, you know, simple and idiotic.
 
bjsterilite said:
Did you even read the article? The employee is free game if they take the initiative. The agreement was against active recruitment.
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Which is also likely in violation of California Anti Trust law, and is anti-competitive behavior. In what world is it OK for competitors to collude against cross-hiring each other's employees? Oh but they will allow employees to "take initiative" and apply for jobs themselves. Give me a break!
 
Apple took part in this strategy. In fact, Apple was one of it's creators. Relicts from the time, this strategy started did survive. As always. Electronic mail.

pirateyarrr said:
And you know this because..... oh right, because in your mind, Apple can do no wrong.

Please grow up and start living in the real world. It's a corporation, like any other. They will screw over their employees to further their own interests just as fast as any other corporation. Which is to say, instantly.
Click to expand...
 
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