US: New “no poach” film premiers

Filmmakers Collaborative SF launched a new film highlighting a successful antitrust action brought by the US Department of Justice against Google, Apple, eBay, and other major technology companies in 2009.

Entitled, “When Rules Don’t Apply,” the 28-minute free film explores the “no-poach” wage suppression agreement that swept Silicon Valley from 2005 to 2015, and the legal battles that challenged these practices. The practice involved leading tech CEOs, including Apple’s Steve Jobs and Google’s Eric Schmidt, who secretly agreed not to recruit one another’s employees, thus restricting employee job opportunities and limiting employee wages. The 2013 class action lawsuit brought on behalf of 64,000 employees resulted in a US$435 million settlement in 2014.

This project was made possible by a grant from the eBay Settlement Fund. Created as a result of antitrust litigation pursued by the Attorney General of the State of California, the purpose of the Fund is to enhance Californians’ ability to gain technology related skills, education, and employment.