Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Pixar, and Other Tech Companies
A handful of Silicon Valley's top tech companies have come under scorn for the unlawful anti-poaching agreements they've established between themselves. Pixar, Apple, Google, Adobe, Intuit, Intel and Lucasfilm will be facing a class action lawsuit next week in San Jose, CA. The charges allege that these companies had mutual agreements to not mutually recruit each others' employees, to not hire those who voluntarily applied, and report to their employer any employee who was seeking employment at another company in the agreement.
I just got off the phone with Danielle Lambert [of Apple], and we agreed that effective now, we’ll follow a Gentleman’s agreement with Apple that is similar to our Lucasfilm agreement.
Similar eMails have been dug up from the archives of other companies. The objective behind these agreements is to eliminate competition between the companies for skilled employees in order to keep employee salaries lower. If found guilty, the companies may be required to provide compensation for damages to employees that might have otherwise been earning more money without such agreements.