Wage Suppression

At last night’s General Membership meeting, Dean Harvey of the law firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein spoke to a packed room about the wage suppression litigation that is now entering its end phase in the bay area, and what the take-aways have been.

In 2009, the Department of Justice commenced investigating Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Lucasfilm and Pixar for collusion in suppressing the wages of tech and creative workers at those companies. The DOJ settled their investigations without monetary penalties, but the civil lawsuit continued. As the L.A. Times reported in late May:

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of more than 64,000 technical employees, claimed that Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe Systems had a pact not to recruit one another's workers. That alleged conspiracy, spanning four years from 2005 to 2009, kept salaries down, the employees said.

It’s come to light that Disney, DreamWorks, and other studios may have participated in a similar wage suppression cartel, and our members have been interested in the Guild taking action on behalf of those who may have been damaged by having their compensation suppressed unlawfully. To that end, the Guild is asking anyone who worked at DreamWorks Animation, DisneyToon Studios, or Walt Disney Animation Studios at any time during the past ten years or so to contact Steve Kaplan at skaplan@animationguild.org with a summary of your work situation and contact phone number and/or e-mail. Steve will be forwarding the message on to Mr. Harvey.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the above matter, please email Steve Hulett or Steve Kaplan. If you wish to contact Mr. Harvey, his email is dharvey@lchb.com.