Judge dismisses Apple, Adobe, Google and Intel settlement with 64,000 employees

By admin On Aug 9, 2014

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A US judge on Friday rejected the settlement that Apple, Adobe, Google and Intel wanted to reach with 64,000 employees. In her opinion, the compensation that the companies are willing to pay is too low.

Apple, Adobe, Google and Intel settled in April a lawsuit filed by more than 64,000 employees. According to the indictment, the four companies made illegal salary agreements to prevent them from stealing employees from each other.

The more than 64,000 employees filed a class action lawsuit for damages of $3 billion, or nearly 2.2 billion euros. The companies eventually agreed with 324 million dollars, converted 234 million euros, which the employees agreed to.

The proposed settlement seemed to have allowed the lawsuit to lapse, but an American judge is now coming back to it, writes The New York Times. According to the judge, there is sufficient evidence that the four technology companies were wrong and therefore much more compensation can be requested. She demands a new settlement. If not, the case will reoccur.

Should the case arise again, the judge ultimately wants Apple, Adobe, Google and Intel to pay more compensation or to reveal their secrets about the agreements. That can also result in a hefty fine, because in addition to the $3 billion in damages, a fine of up to $9 billion can also be imposed, if the judge considers cartel agreements proven.

The indictment against the four tech companies is mainly based on a number of emails between, among others, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, who according to the judge is the spider in the web. In an email to Jobs, Schmidt said, among other things, that a Google recruiter would be fired after he offered an Apple employee a job at the search giant.

Google, Apple and Adobe declined to comment on the judge’s decision to The New York Times. An Intel spokesperson agreed and said he was “disappointed” in the decision, because the compensation had been negotiated for months.