Silicon Valley companies settle poaching case, employees should win

Google, Apple, Adobe and Intel have recently reached a settlement that accused the four Silicon Valley companies of collusion, with each company promising not to poach employees from one another. The class-action lawsuit was originally filed in 2011, and was the brainchild of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, designed to help keep wages lower.

The lawsuit, which included more than 64,000 high-tech employees in Silicon Valley from 2005 to 2009, originally included companies such as Intuit, Lucasfilm and Pixar. Disney paid $9 million to settle the matter for Lucasfilm and Pixar, while Intuit paid $11 million to resolve the legal issues.

"This settlement should result in much higher salaries for folks who are in high-demand positions," said Rob Enderle, Enderle Group principal analyst, in a statement to the San Jose Mercury News. "You will start to see bidding wars between companies, and those will start to drive salaries up."

Companies in Silicon Valley, which has fierce competition for trained tech workers, also have turned to poaching efforts at commuter ferry and shuttle stops.