
In Silicon Valley Thriller, a Settlement May Preclude the Finale - wallflower
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/business/in-silicon-valley-thriller-a-settlement-may-preclude-the-finale.html?hp
======
rayiner
These companies will try very hard to settle before this goes to trial,
because the emails that have been unearthed so far are not flattering. The
companies lost their motions for summary judgment, which
[http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/03/28/silicon-valley-
ant...](http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/03/28/silicon-valley-anti-
poaching-suit-to-proceed-as-judge-denies-requests-from-apple-others) is where
the companies could have proven that their actions were not illegal based
purely on the law and uncontested facts. Now, they'll face a jury trial, and
in such a setting, in front of ordinary people, the appearance of wrongdoing
can matter a whole lot. The emails produced so far in many cases come across
as mean and callous, and that's going to play in front of a jury.

I think tech companies will have to take a lesson from this case and reexamine
some of their approaches to dealing with engineers. Tech more so than many
other industries seems incestuous in terms of how companies deal with the
labor pool. This can result in policies that open these companies up to
liability under antitrust as well as discrimination laws.

~~~
doctorpangloss
> are not flattering. > across as mean and callous

I think you're being too generous. Multiple executives from non-cooperating
firms warned Steve Jobs in e-mails that the non-poaching agreements he was
asking for were illegal.

Non-poaching, non-solicitation and their cousins are awful for the employee,
the industry and future employers. People are not commodities to contract
over, and the egregiously pompous executive negotiations will earn fierce
punishment from a jury or judge if this doesn't settle.

~~~
jmillikin
I agree that no-hire agreements are harmful to employees, but non-solicitation
is beneficial. Cold calls are obnoxious and I'd be glad to see them stop
forever.

~~~
hueving
Don't answer your phone then. The fact that you're advocating a worse labor
market for employees because you don't like phone calls is pretty appalling.

~~~
jmillikin
I'm not advocating a worse labor market, I'm advocating a market where
engineers' lives are not constantly interrupted by phone calls from
recruiters. Tech workers do not benefit in any way from being cold-called.

The job market in silicon valley is very favorable to tech workers. A typical
college grad could start applying tomorrow and have multiple offers by the end
of the week. Someone with a few years at a top-tier company on their resume
could probably get an offer directly after the interviews conclude. This is
what hiring managers mean by "tech worker shortage": if you can write code,
you can get a good job on a very tight schedule.

~~~
hueving
> I'm advocating a market where engineers' lives are not constantly
> interrupted by phone calls from recruiters.

Don't answer your phone. You're advocating a market where people cannot be
recruited because you're happy with your current job. It's selfish.

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magicalist
I'm sure it is incredibly stressful to be a plaintiff in this case, but to use
a man's death to frame the story -- when the circumstances were "murky" and
the connection presented is one person's speculation -- seems...inappropriate
on the part of the Times.

From what little they write about it, he seems like he was probably suffering
some kind of mental health issue. Writing that _" Mr. Marshall’s death is just
one of many ways in which the case has shaped up to be a Silicon Valley drama
unlike any other."_ just doesn't seem OK.

~~~
kordless
I agree, and it would appear given he "pulled out a five-inch metal spike and
hit one of them" I'd say the circumstances _leading up_ to the attack were
murky, not the response by the sheriff as a result of being attacked.

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001sky
_The awards would probably not be much. From the initial three settlements for
a total of $20 million, the lawyers have asked for incentive payments of
$20,000 for each class representative. (They have asked for $5 million for
themselves, a standard percentage in these cases_

This kind of makes you question what is going on. The entire industry (?) can
buy themselves out of genuine racketeering allegations for 2% of what FB spent
on istagram. It would be interesting if the judge blocked this for being an
un-reasonable discount. $20K per worker would likely be the minimum--per year
--this type of policy would thwart. So again, this is off at least by a factor
of 10 in terms of NPV in the context of a long-running conspiracy (ie, 20K
from one thwarted job x at least 10+years). It does, however, emphasize the
value for money of the "hush money" being paid.

 _The defendants do not want jurors to hear that Google and Apple, in
particular, are two of the most financially successful companies in the world,
because that might encourage a jury to award a larger sum._

This also seems dis-engenuous, given that a career with either firm can be
worths millions (and often tens of millions) of dollars. That woud put into
context the notion that something like $20k/fte is out of order in relation to
the career damage that blacklisting a "switcher" into some form of "career
path-dependency".

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eyeareque
Part of me wishes Steve Jobs was still alive so he could see how this
particular action was very much wrong. I admire a lot of his accomplishments,
but this action seems very illegal.

~~~
mynewwork
Steve jobs lied to his close friend Steve Wozniak about the payment from Atari
in the 1970s so he could keep 90% of the money. His daughter was raised on
welfare by a single mother for a period of time while he refused to help or
acknowledge his paternity. He cheated early employees out of equity to such a
degree that Wozniak gave some of his shares away to make up for it.

I can't see any reason to believe that if Jobs was still here today that he
would suddenly become compassionate, caring or empathetic after showing none
of those traits for 40 years.

~~~
eyeareque
I agree, I doubt he would.

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kenster07
This whole situation is more depressing than anything. Who would have thought
that exemplars of our industry would cheat their own employees to this degree.
One might have expected this in some other industries, but software?

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whoismua
Of course they'll settle. They have the money and hate for more embarrassing
and illegal stuff to come out in public.

But now the DOJ will undoubtedly charge and jail the characters that broke the
law? Planing or doing something illegal over email or IM for example is wire
fraud. Imagine the rest. Blind justice and all.

...waiting.

