There has always been rumors of an agreement between some of the biggest tech companies that they wouldn’t go around trying to hire top talent away from each other. Well it turns out that this wasn’t just a rumor as the Department of Justice in the U.S. filed suit the afternoon of September 24 against six high profile tech companies.
The DoJ state that Google, Intel, Apple, Adobe, Inuit and Pixar made agreements with each other not to poach competitor employees. This in the eyes of the government restrained competition between them for highly skilled employees . The DoJ also states that starting as early as 2005 the companies agreed to create do not call lists of each other’s employees as well as lists of companies that were off limits.
A couple of the examples given in the DoJ statement are
Beginning no later than 2006, Apple and Google executives agreed not to cold call each other’s employees. Apple placed Google on its internal “Do Not Call List,” which instructed employees not to directly solicit employees from the listed companies. Similarly, Google listed Apple among the companies that had special agreements with Google and were part of the “Do Not Cold Call” list;
[….]
Beginning no later than September 2007, Google and Intel executives agreed not to cold call each other’s employees. In its hiring policies and protocol manual, Google listed Intel among the companies that have special agreements with Google and are part of the “Do Not Cold Call” list. Similarly, Intel instructed its human resources staff about the existence of the agreement; and
Now at the same time that the civil antitrust complaint was being filed a five-year settlement was also filed that would in effect end the suit .
The proposed settlement, which if accepted by the court will be in effect for five years, prohibits the companies from engaging in anticompetitive no solicitation agreements. Although the complaint alleges only that the companies agreed to ban cold calling, the proposed settlement more broadly prohibits the companies from entering, maintaining or enforcing any agreement that in any way prevents any person from soliciting, cold calling, recruiting, or otherwise competing for employees. The companies will also implement compliance measures tailored to these practices.
It’s so nice to see everyone getting along so well together eh.
