Tech workers will get average of $5,770 under final anti-poaching settlement

Jeff John Roberts

<p>An illegal plot among Silicon Valley companies, including <a href="https://fortune.com/company/apple/" target="_blank">Apple</a> (AAPL) and <a href="https://fortune.com/company/alphabet/" target="_blank">Google</a> (GOOG), to suppress engineers&#8217; wages produced a drawn-out court fight over how much the employees should get in compensation&mdash;and how much the lawyers representing them should be able to collect from that amount. Now, the numbers are finally official.</p><div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">
<p>On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh approved a deal in which Apple, Google, Intel (INTC), and <a href="https://fortune.com/company/adobe-systems/" target="_blank">Adobe</a> (ADBE) will pay $415 million for their role in the pact, which involved senior executives like the late Steve Jobs creating &#8220;no-poach&#8221; lists. The lists were part of a scheme whereby companies agreed not to recruit each others&#8217; employees.</p>
<p>While the companies reached an initial settlement of $324.5 million last year, Koh <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/15/technology/silicon-valley-antitrust-case-settlement-poaching-engineers.html?ref=business&amp;_r=1">threw it out</a> on the grounds that it was too low, and handed too much of the award to lawyers. Court documents show the revised arrangement provides &#8220;$40,822,311.75 (or 9.8%)&#8221; in attorney fees plus additional expenses to the law firms in the case.</p>
<p>The final result is that the approximately 64,466 workers affected by the poaching scheme will collect about $5,770 each on average, according to Koh&#8217;s ruling.</p>
<p>In deciding to approve the deal, the judge also declared it fair in light of the low level of objections.</p>
<p>&#8220;Out of 64,466 Class Members, only 11 submitted objections (about .017 percent of the Class, or about one in every 5,860 Class Members) &#8230;In addition, only 56 Class Members have opted out of the Settlement (less than .09 percent of the Class),&#8221; Koh wrote.</p>
<p>The settlement comes after a similar one involving collusion between <a href="https://fortune.com/company/intuit/" target="_blank">Intuit</a> (INTU), Lucasfilm, and Pixar, which led those companies to pay $20 million in 2013.</p>
<p>The fact that the companies resorted to such conspiracies reflects the high-stakes war for talent in Silicon Valley, where companies struggle to retain top engineers. Unlike other states, California does not allow &#8220;non-compete&#8221; clauses, which means its easier for tech talent to move from firm to firm. As a result, tech companies <a href="https://fortune.com/2015/06/02/talent-raids-trade-secrets/">often resort</a> to other tactics like non-disclosure agreements and patent lawsuits in an effort to ward off talent raids.</p>
<p>See a copy of Judge Koh&#8217;s final order further below:</p>
<p><em>Correction: this post was updated at 3:30pm ET. An earlier version misstated the number of workers affected by the scheme.</em></p>
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The long-running anti-poaching saga is finally over and now we know what everyone will get.

Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe will pay $415 million in anti-poach deal

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Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe will pay $415 million in anti-poach deal | Fortune

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