Plaintiff Calls $324M Tech Worker Class Action Settlement ‘Unjust’

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A lead plaintiff in a massive class action lawsuit accusing Google Inc., Apple Inc., Intel Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc. of colluding to suppress tech workers’ salaries by agreeing not to court each others’ employees told a federal judge last week to deny a $324 million class action settlement in the case, calling the deal “grossly inadequate” and “failing to achieve justice for the Class.”

Lead plaintiff Michael Devine wrote to U.S. District Court Judge Lucy H. Koh on May 11, urging the judge to reject the tech worker antitrust class action settlement reached on April 11, arguing that the settlement deal amounts to a windfall for the attorneys and the tech giants, but does not rectify the unjust hiring policies that allegedly cost workers by keeping their wages artificially low.

Devine and the other lead plaintiffs, comprised of software engineers and tech workers, initially filed class action lawsuits in 2011 accusing tech giants Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm and Pixar of brokering unfair agreements to not to hire each others’ employees in order to keep wages down artificially. Early this year, the 9th Circuit rejected the tech companies’ motion to dismiss the class action. Later in the year, Judge Koh also denied the tech companies’ motion to exclude expert testimony.  In late April, the parties announced that they had entered into a class action settlement agreement, marking the end of the long-running court battle.

In his letter to Judge Koh, plaintiff Michael Devine argues, “The evidence of the Defendants’ illegal conspiracy, and its intended impact, is very strong. In fact, the Defendants’ own actions reveal their valuation of the conspiracy. Just look at Google. When Facebook rejected their illegal overture, [Google] felt compelled to raise annual compensation 10% companywide to stem the flow of employees to Facebook.”

“This settlement, in contrast,” argues Devine, “will amount to less than 1% of compensation for each Class Member over the duration of the illegal agreements.” Devine points out “[t]hat’s one tenth of the experts’ estimates of damages and is lacking in any penalty. There’s no justice for the Class in that, nor is there any real deterrent to future wrongdoing.”

Devine asks, “As an analogy, if a shoplifter is caught on video stealing a $400 iPad from the Apple Store, would a fair and just resolution be for the shoplifter to pay Apple $40, keep the iPad, and walk away with no record or admission of wrongdoing?”

Devine also alleges that he, as a Class Representative, was not informed of and did not attend the last mediation meeting between parties where the tentative tech workers antitrust class action settlement agreement was made.

“The tentative settlement, if it stands, amounts to big profits for Plaintiffs’ counsel, insulation from real liability for the Defendants, and locks in a significant net loss for the Class,” concludes Devine.

Devine is seeking alternative legal representation through his Tech Worker Justice website.

After Devine’s letter was published by The New York Times, three other Class Members wrote letters of objection to the class action settlement, according to court documents filed May 16. Alternatively, six other named plaintiffs in the high-tech worker antitrust class action lawsuit filed motions for approval of the class action settlement on May 5.

The plaintiffs are represented by Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP and Joseph Saveri Law Firm Inc.

The Tech Worker Anti-Poaching Class Action Lawsuit is In re: High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 11-cv-02509, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.

More information on the cases in the In re: High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation can be found at www.hightechemployeelawsuit.com.

If you think that you have missed out on unpaid overtime or other pay, you may be able to begin a wage and hour lawsuit to seek damages from your current or former employer. The first step is to determine whether or not you are eligible. You can do so by taking advantage of the free case eligibility review available to all those who fill out the case submission form at the Wage & Hour, Overtime Pay Class Action Lawsuit Investigation.

UPDATE: The high-tech employee class action settlement has paid out! Checks were mailed the week of December 21, 2015. If you received a check, let us know in the comments. Congrats to everyone who got paid!