Lucasfilm settles up in US employment enquiry
The US Department of Justice has reached a settlement with Lucasfilm over complaints that the studio had agreed with Pixar not to engage in bidding wars for one other’s staff.
According to the DoJ’s statement: “Lucasfilm and Pixar agreed not to cold call each other’s employees; agreed to notify each other when making an offer to an employee of the other company; and agreed, when offering a position to the other company’s employee, not to counteroffer with compensation above the initial offer.”
The DoJ ruled that the agreement “significantly diminished competition to the detriment of affected employees who were likely deprived of information and access to better job opportunities”.
Under the terms of the settlement, which has now gone before the US District Court of the District of Columbia for approval, Lucasfilm will be prohibited from engaging in such anticompetitive agreements for five years.
Pixar is not named in the settlement, having reached its own settlement with the DoJ earlier this year.