America the "Free"

Yes... freedom for the big boys to run roughshod over the "little people". Not only do they buy and sell politicians to get ever more "tax cuts" for billionaires and gazillionaires. They are into making sure that workers never get a break.

From cnet news:

A new California lawsuit accuses Apple, Google, Adobe Systems, Intel, and other tech companies of violating antitrust laws by allegedly conspiring to fix employee pay, as well as working out "no solicitation" deals with one another.

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.

Yep... the lawsuit includes the "do no evil" Google, the company founded by two idealistic computer students from Stanford who, once they became billionaires, decided that billions are not enough. And that "the law" doesn't apply when you are massively rich. The rules only apply to the little people.

Even though the companies were found guilty of collusion and "the little people" were left missing dollars out of their pocket, the legal system in its infinite wisdom didn't feel that these companies had to compensate the victims. So they are back with a lawsuit:

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.

The suit focuses specifically on the companies targeted by a 2009 antitrust investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. That investigation, and the civil lawsuit that followed, were settled back in September of last year, with the aforementioned companies agreeing to discontinue the use of "do not cold call" lists. Nonetheless, the suit says the companies are still profiting in the aftermath of the practice.

"The DOJ has confirmed that it will not seek to compensate employees who were injured by defendants' agreements," the suit says. "Without this class action, plaintiff and members of the class will not receive compensation for their injuries, and defendants will continue to retain the benefits of their unlawful collusion."

Have you ever heard of a bank robber not being required to give up the ill-gotten loot from his robbery? Neither have I. But these big companies have bent the legal system so that they can be found "guilty" but get to keep the loot. The poor victims are forced to go and pursue their own legal case to try to get restitution of what was stolen from them.

Yep... America, land of the free. Those free to rob the little people.