cnet News reports on a new class action lawsuit taking shape in California which accuses such tech companies as Apple, Lucasfilm, Google, Pixar and others of fixing worker pay.
"The suit (PDF), which seeks class action status, was filed today with the California Superior Court in Alameda County and alleges that because senior executives from Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm, and Pixar "entered into an interconnected web of express agreements to eliminate competition among them for skilled labor," affected employees from those companies are entitled to compensation.
"My colleagues at Lucasfilm and I applied our skills, knowledge, and creativity to make the company an industry leader," said Siddharth Hariharan, a former Lucasfilm employee who filed the class action suit and is listed as the plaintiff. "It's disappointing that, while we were working hard to make terrific products that resulted in enormous profits for Lucasfilm, senior executives of the company cut deals with other premiere high tech companies to eliminate competition and cap pay for skilled employees," Hariharan said in a statement.
In the complaint, Hariharan seeks restitution for lost compensation as well as treble damages for those who are a part of the suit, which includes salaried employees from the companies during January 1, 2005, to January 1, 2010."
Click here for the full read with more details at cnet.com. At this point Lucasfilm had no comment for cnet other than to say that "the claim is meritless." We'll keep you posted as we hear more.