The online auction company eBay has settled a lawsuit with the U.S. Justice Department, agreeing to stop making deals with other technology companies to not poach each other's employees, according to court papers filed on Thursday.
In the lawsuit, which was filed in 2012, eBay and Intuit were accused of making a pact not to recruit each others' employees, the Justice Department said in a news release.
The settlement comes a week after four of Silicon Valley's other biggest tech companies reached a settlement in a class-action suit alleging they colluded not to recruit each other's employees. Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe settled the anti-poaching lawsuit for an undisclosed amount, but Reuters reported the figure is $300 million, citing sources familiar with the deal.
In the eBay case, the Justice Department said eBay's agreement with Intuit "served no purpose but to limit competition between the two firms for employees, distorting the labor market and causing employees to lose opportunities for better jobs and higher pay."
The lawsuit, and similar legal issues involving other technology companies, highlight the intense competition for talent in Silicon Valley. In this case, a "handshake" agreement between eBay and Intuit came into place in 2006 after Intuit founder Scott Cook, who also served on eBay's board, complained about eBay poaching Intuit employees.
- Reuters
