The Justice Department and the state of California sued e-commerce company eBay Inc on Friday over what they called an illegal agreement with Intuit Inc not to recruit Intuit’s employees.
The agreement eliminated competition for workers, depriving them of access to better job opportunities, the Justice Department and California Attorney General Kamala Harris said in simultaneous news releases.
Meg Whitman, then eBay’s CEO, and Scott Cook, Intuit’s founder, were closely involved in creating and enforcing the agreement. Cook was serving on eBay’s board at the same time he was complaining about eBay’s recruiting of Intuit employees, federal officials said.
EBay said the government is wrong and that it will vigorously defend itself.
“EBay’s hiring practices conform to the standards that the Department of Justice has approved in resolving cases against other companies. The DOJ is taking an overly aggressive interpretation in their enforcement of antitrust law in this area,” said eBay spokeswoman Lara Wyss.
Tax and financial software company Intuit, which faced similar antitrust allegations in 2010 and settled, called the new lawsuits a matter for eBay.
News Source: bdnews24.com
