Photo: Timothy A. Clary, AFP/Getty Images
Apple, Google and other technology companies have reached a new settlement over claims they conspired to keep a lid on wages and limit job mobility by agreeing not to poach each other’s employees.
A federal judge tossed a $324.5 million class action settlement in August saying it did not offer enough compensation for technology workers.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said the proposed settlement “falls below the range of reasonableness.”
Two other companies, Intel and Adobe, are also named in the lawsuit.
The new settlement hinges on Koh’s approval.
Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe are offering a joint payment of $415 million, a source close to the negotiations told the New York Times.
The case is scheduled to go to trial in the spring.
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Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman for Intel, confirmed the new settlement but declined to discuss details until it is filed with the court.
Kelly Dermody, a lawyer for the workers, also confirmed a settlement had been reached. She said the settlement would be filed with the court on Thursday.
Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet and Google spokesman Aaron Stein declined to comment.
It is the latest twist in the high-profile lawsuit filed in 2011.
Plaintiffs allege the companies violated antitrust laws by engaging in a “conspiracy” between 2005 and 2009 that affected tens of thousands of technology workers.
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs said they planned to ask for about $3 billion in damages at trial. That could have tripled to $9 billion under antitrust law.
Some of the tech workers in the case told the court they objected to the settlement.
The case exposed emails in which Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt detailed agreements not to steal each other’s employees.
The lawsuit followed a similar probe from the U.S. Justice Department that the companies settled in 2010.
That investigation alleged the companies colluded to suppress wages by agreeing not to recruit employees from one another.
As part of the settlement, the companies agreed not to enter into such agreements.
