Four Silicon Valley companies agreed to pay 64,000 current and former workers $415 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that they conspired not to hire each other's employees, suppressing wages from 2005 to 2009.

The proposed settlement between the workers and Apple Inc., Google Inc., Intel Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc. now must be approved by a U.S. District Court judge in San Jose, Calif. The judge rejected an earlier, $324.5 million proposal. The new settlement was filed with the court Thursday.

Under the new proposal, workers would receive an average of about $5,000, after attorneys' fees. Awards will vary based on an employee's total pay at one or more of the defendant companies during the period. Under the original proposal, the average award would have been less than $4,000, after attorneys' fees.

In the filing, the companies denied wrongdoing. "We deny any allegations of wrongdoing and we elected to settle this matter to avoid the risks, burdens, and uncertainties of ongoing litigation," said Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman for Intel.

Representatives of Apple, Google and Adobe declined to comment.

"We are pleased that this settlement exceeds the benchmark for approval previously set by the court, and more importantly provides certain, meaningful relief to the class," said Kelly Dermody, one of the lead attorneys for the class.

In rejecting the earlier proposal in August, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said workers at three other companies that previously had settled in the same case received proportionately more money. To reach the same rate, the judge said, the settlement "would need to total at least $380 million."

Judge Koh ruled after one of the named plaintiffs, former Adobe engineer Michael Devine, opposed the settlement as insufficient. Mr. Devine said he supports the new proposed settlement.

The new deal caps fees for the attorneys of the class at $81 million, or 25% of the prior settlement amount. Mr. Devine's attorney would receive up to an additional $4.5 million.

Mr. Devine cited the contrast between the attorneys' fees and the average payout to workers in opposing the initial settlement.

Without a new settlement, a trial in the case is scheduled to start on April 10.

The suit followed a 2011 Justice Department case and claims the companies conspired to not recruit each other's tech talent, hurting the workers' job market and depressing wages.

The companies said the pay for workers rose during the period covered by the suit, and any cooperation between companies didn't hurt employees' pay.

During pretrial proceedings, emails from top executives including the late Steve Jobs, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and then-CEO Eric Schmidt surfaced, showing the executives conferred on hiring plans, sometimes through intermediaries.

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