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U.S. judge approves $415M settlement in tech worker lawsuit

reuters.com

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Re: U.S. judge approves $415M settlement in tech worker lawsuit

#31

Post by snarfy »

staunch wrote: post #3

This conspiracy is by far the most intentionally evil thing tech companies have ever been caught doing. Also the worst thing Steve Jobs did in his life.

I'm still pissed at Google for falling into this. From a company that prides itself on not being evil, it was clearly an evil practice. I'm not too pissed though. I understand Steve had his distortion bubble and Larry had stars in his eyes. It's sad to see the integrity break down. It makes me not trust Google to always do the right thing because I don't trust Larry to.

Re: U.S. judge approves $415M settlement in tech worker lawsuit

#33

Post by wcummings »

snarfy wrote: post #31
staunch wrote: post #3

This conspiracy is by far the most intentionally evil thing tech companies have ever been caught doing. Also the worst thing Steve Jobs did in his life.

I'm still pissed at Google for falling into this. From a company that prides itself on not being evil, it was clearly an evil practice. I'm not too pissed though. I understand Steve had his distortion bubble and Larry had stars in his eyes. It's sad to see the integrity break down. It makes me not trust Google to always do the right thing because I don't trust Larry to.

>From a company that prides itself on not being evil

Does it, though?

Re: U.S. judge approves $415M settlement in tech worker lawsuit

#34

Post by wcummings »

WalterBright wrote: post #29
spacecowboy_lon wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It acted to suppress wages across the industry by reducing wage rises on moves. Effectively its negativly skewing the salery distribution for every one - this is basic Stats 101.

Okay, but was compensation at cartel members actually lower than at other tech companies? And if they were, wouldn't that make cartel members vulnerable to poaching from non-members? I just don't see how a cartel of 4 companies could possibly be effective across the tech industry.

The lawsuit is 8 companies, (Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Pixar, Lucasfilm and eBay) but dozens of others were discussed in emails and memos.

Re: U.S. judge approves $415M settlement in tech worker lawsuit

#35

Post by Beltiras »

roel_v wrote: post #30
3princip wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much of a financial hit do they really take? Apart from their salaries and associated office costs (covered by past cases presumably) what other costs do they have? Their only excuse is that most businesses do the same thing. Payment processors, freelance agencies, telecoms providers etc, all taking extortionate cuts in relation to the costs incurred providing a service, which comes from our paychecks.

"How much of a financial hit do they really take? Apart from their salaries and associated office costs (covered by past cases presumably) what other costs do they have?" Well then, why don't you come work for me for a few years, and if the software you develop works well enough and I make a lot of money on it, I'll give you 25%. Deal? (PS you'll have to front your own computer, admin staff etc. too)

Don't forget research staff and your accountability to some very mis-temperamental validators that your 'work' is worthy of consideration.

Re: U.S. judge approves $415M settlement in tech worker lawsuit

#36

Post by mtgx »

wcummings wrote: post #33
snarfy wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still pissed at Google for falling into this. From a company that prides itself on not being evil, it was clearly an evil practice. I'm not too pissed though. I understand Steve had his distortion bubble and Larry had stars in his eyes. It's sad to see the integrity break down. It makes me not trust Google to always do the right thing because I don't trust Larry to.

>From a company that prides itself on not being evil Does it, though?

Not for a few years at least. Now they're all "well...evil is kind of a relative term."

Re: U.S. judge approves $415M settlement in tech worker lawsuit

#37

Post by throwaway2048 »

LunaSea wrote: post #25
dylanjermiah wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jobs was far from perfect. However, his contributions _far_ outweigh all his transgressions. The iPhone has (and will) ushered in an era of unimaginable prosperity for, in the coming years, literally the entire planet. Whether or not his work could have been achieved without his faults is an open question. One which the counter factual isn't possible. The key thing to remember is that there are no solutions, only tra…

This has to be a troll ...

check his comment history, i doubt it.

Re: U.S. judge approves $415M settlement in tech worker lawsuit

#39

Post by cryoshon »

snarfy wrote: post #31
staunch wrote: post #3

This conspiracy is by far the most intentionally evil thing tech companies have ever been caught doing. Also the worst thing Steve Jobs did in his life.

I'm still pissed at Google for falling into this. From a company that prides itself on not being evil, it was clearly an evil practice. I'm not too pissed though. I understand Steve had his distortion bubble and Larry had stars in his eyes. It's sad to see the integrity break down. It makes me not trust Google to always do the right thing because I don't trust Larry to.

"Don't be evil" is just a slogan. Same as any other company's slogan. There isn't any integrity to begin with unless there's a market incentive for it, and there isn't.

Re: U.S. judge approves $415M settlement in tech worker lawsuit

#40

Post by tptacek »

3princip wrote: post #16
Beltiras wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

25% is a rather "normal" attorney fee award. You can argue they shouldn't get that much but remember that they have to eat the cost of prosecuting the case for a long time before seeing a dime. EDIT: I don't get the harsh downvoting. I'm unfamiliar with the particulars of the case but remember that not all class-actions end favourably for the lawyers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Civil_Action

How much of a financial hit do they really take? Apart from their salaries and associated office costs (covered by past cases presumably) what other costs do they have? Their only excuse is that most businesses do the same thing. Payment processors, freelance agencies, telecoms providers etc, all taking extortionate cuts in relation to the costs incurred providing a service, which comes from our paychecks.

Whatever the hit they take on cases like this, the returns also have to cover all the cases they take where they don't make any money.
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