Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe, and other companies had agreements in place during the mid-2000s not to steal employees from each other and other technology players.
A series of e-mails posted today by The Verge point to a paper trail of non-poaching agreements among a variety of companies.
The revelation follows a civil lawsuit filed in 2011 by five workers against Apple, Google, and others alleging that the companies purposely tried to keep down wages through non-poaching agreements.
In one case made public yesterday, then Palm CEO Edward Colligan said he received a call from Apple CEO Steve Jobs in 2007 suggesting a non-poaching agreement between the two companies. After pointing out that such an arrangement was "likely illegal," Colligan said Jobs suggested that if Palm didn't agree, Palm could face patent infringement lawsuits from Apple.
But the reported exchange between Jobs and Colligan seems to be the tip of the iceberg.
In one e-mail displayed by the Verge, Jobs asked Google CEO Eric Schmidt to stop recruting people from
Apple's iPod group.
In another message, a senior staffing stategist at Google told Schmidt that a recruiter who tried to hire an Apple employee was to be fired. Schmidt's response? "I would prefer that Omid do it verbally since I don't want to create a paper trail over which we can be sued later? Not sure about this."
Other e-mails traveled throughout Silicon Valley. A message from Intel CEO Paul Otellini points to an agreement with Google but cautions that "we have nothing signed. We have a handshake 'no-recruit' between eric and myself. I would not like this broadly known."
A memo from Intel says that people from Pixar cannot be recruited, adding that if someone from Pixar applies for a job, the CEO of Pixar needs to be contacted for approval.
Some companies actually maintained lists of firms that were off limits for talent acquisition.
A document from Adobe warned staffers not to recruit workers from Apple, Bell Canada, EMC, SAP, and others. An Apple document placed Microsoft, Google, Intel, Pixar, and a host of others on the do-not-call list. A Google document cautioned against contacting potential hires from Intel, Apple, PayPal, Comcast, and Genentech, saying that Google has "special agreements" with these companies.
The civil suit is being weighed by Judge Lucy Koh to determine if it can move forward as a class-action suit, says Reuters. If so, that could pave the wave for a bigger settlement.
Attorneys for the plantiffs claim damages could reach hundreds of millions of dollars. But Koh said that analysis had "holes," Reuters added.
In 2010, Apple, Adobe, Google, Intel, Intuit, and Pixar settled with the Justice Department by promising to end non-poaching agreements.
CNET contacted Apple, Intel, and Google for comment and will update the story if we receive any information.
Apple, Google, others agreed not to poach workers, reveal e-mails
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