More than three-and-a-half years after a group of workers in Silicon Valley filed a lawsuit claiming that some of the technology industry’s biggest bigwigs were involved in a secret, anti-poaching pact to prevent their employees from switching jobs and thus, keeping their salaries down, a judge has approved a $415 million settlement to lay that case to rest.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ended antitrust claims against Apple, Adobe, Google and Intel over allegations that they’d gotten together and promised not to pillage each others’ workforces with a 15-page order on Wednesday, reports the San Jose Mercury News.

The problem for workers in that situation is that with no one trying to woo them away from their current jobs, there’s no hope of gaining leverage to ask for a raise when the time comes.

The deal had been expected since the proposed settlement was tentatively approved earlier this spring. It’ll will keep the CEOs of those Silicon Valley tech giants out of the courtroom, where a trial could’ve aired embarrassing allegations: the proceedings had unearthed internal emails that cast former Apple CEO Steve Jobs and others in a not-so-great light, including missives where he’d allegedly been the one behind the “gentlemen’s agreements.”

All the companies involved have denied wrongdoing, saying they’re only settling to avoid the risks of a trial, which could’ve cost them an estimated billions of dollars in damages.

Poaching settlement OK’d: Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe must pay $415 million [San Jose Mercury News]

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