Google, a company with a motto of

Google, a company with a motto of "Don't Be Evil," is one of four tech companies paying $415 to settle a lawsuit that alleges collusion on employee wages and recruitment. The other defendants are Adobe, Apple and Intel.

Paul Sakuma/AP

Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe have agreed to pay $415 million to settle a lawsuit that alleges they secretly conspired in their employee hiring practices, NPR's Aarti Shahani reports.

Plaintiffs say the companies set and limited employee salaries and agreed not to poach one another's workers, Aarti reports.

"The settlement filed in federal court in San Jose, California is $35 million above the amount that U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh indicated was fair a few months back. If she approves the deal, the companies get to avoid going to trial — and having potentially embarrassing details leak out about backdoor deals."

Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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