By Alistair Barr
A judge in a closely watched court battle over alleged collusion
on hiring among Silicon Valley technology giants gave preliminary
approval late Tuesday to a $415 million settlement that will fund
payouts to thousands of employees.
Apple Inc., Google Inc., Intel Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc. had
agreed to the settlement with representatives of 64,000 current and
former workers to resolve a class-action lawsuit alleging they
conspired not to hire each other's employees, limiting wages from
2005 to 2009.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, Calif., gave
preliminary approval to the settlement, after having rejected an
earlier $324.5 million proposal.
The settlement "provides a neutral and fair way to compensate
Class members based on their salary and alleged injury," Judge Koh
wrote.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment, while Google, Intel
and Adobe didn't respond immediately to emails seeking comment on
Wednesday.
"We are pleased that the companies are no longer engaged in the
challenged practices and that the court has preliminarily approved
the cash fund for the class members," said Kelly M. Dermody, one of
the lead plaintiff attorneys, in an emailed statement.
In August 2014, Judge Koh rejected an earlier settlement, which
would have paid the current and former employees a total of $324.5
million. The rejection followed an objection by one of the named
plaintiffs in the case, Michael Devine. Mr. Devine has said he
supports the new settlement.
Jeff Elder contributed to this article.
Write to Alistair Barr at alistair.barr@wsj.com
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