Wage Suppression Antitrust Class Allegations Against Oracle Dismissed As Untimely

A 2009 Department of Justice (“DOJ”) investigation of the employment and recruitment practices of a number of Silicon Valley technology companies resulted in DOJ lawsuits against seven companies, followed by consent decrees and numerous class actions brought by employees and former employees.  The plaintiffs claimed that their employers entered into agreements not to solicit one another’s employees and that these agreements unlawfully suppressed their compensation.  Several of the class actions were consolidated before Judge Lucy Koh in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and resulted in a settlement totaling $435 million.  In Re High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation, No. 11-CV-02508, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118051, at *12-15 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 2, 2015) (“High-Tech”).  But more recently, Judge Koh dismissed a similar case brought against Microsoft on statute of limitations grounds.  Ryan v. Microsoft Corp., 14-CV-04634, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 158944, at *1-2 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 23, 2015) (“Ryan”).  And now, less than 2 1/2 months later, a similar case brought against Oracle has met the same fate.  (We have previously blogged on the High-Tech litigation here, and on the Ryan case here.)  Garrison v. Oracle Corp., Case No. 14-CV-04592, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13118, at *2-3 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 2, 2016).

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