Apple, Intel, Google, and other tech companies will be facing a class action lawsuit over an alleged anti-poaching agreement amongst the companies after an appellate court refused to hear an appeal of a 2013 class action certification order.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed down its ruling on Tuesday, denying a petition from defendants for permission to appeal a district court order that granted over 64,000 workers class certification, reports Reuters.
The plaintiffs are accusing a group of companies that includes Apple, Google, Adobe, and Intel of an “overarching conspiracy” to keep employee pay artificially low via an anti-poaching agreement.
April of 2013 saw District Court Judge Lucy Koh denying class status to the plaintiffs after she found that the workers did not show adequate harm from the alleged illegal agreements. She reversed her decision in October after the presentation of pretrial information.
The defendants allegedly used a variety of anti-poaching methods, including “do not call” lists, personal emails and other correspondence.
