San Francisco – A former employee at Lucasfilm has filed a
class action lawsuit that alleges technology firms including Apple (NASD: AAPL), Google (NASD: GOOG),
Pixar, Lucasfilm, Adobe (NASD: ADBE), Intel (NASD: INTC) and Intuit (NASD: INTU) conspired to fix employee pay, and
entered into "no solicitation" agreements not to poach employees from
one another. The lawsuit seeks restitution for lost compensation — which
attorneys estimated at 10-15% of salaries — and treble damages for a class of
employees that could number in the tens of thousands.
Those companies settled a
Justice Dept. investigation into the same matter last year, at which time they
acknowledged having used "do not cold call" lists to limit recruitment at
rival firms, and promised not to do so in the future.
"My colleagues at
Lucasfilm and I applied our skills, knowledge, and creativity to make the
company an industry leader," said former Lucasfilm employee Siddharth
Hariharan, who is listed as lead plaintiff in the complaint.
"It’s
disappointing that, while we were working hard to make terrific products that
resulted in enormous profits for Lucasfilm, senior executives of the company
cut deals with other premiere high tech companies to eliminate competition and
cap pay for skilled employees."
"Intel does not believe its actions
violated the law nor does the company agree with the allegations," the
company said in a statement to CNET. "The company settled the DOJ matter
because it believes it would not harm the company or its ability to do
business."
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3p2xp3w
(Announcement of class action)
http://tinyurl.com/3orerwr
(Forbes)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20059875-38.html
http://tinyurl.com/3m3tg98 (DMW previous coverage)
