"The intended and actual effect of these agreements was to fix and suppress employee compensation and to impose unlawful restrictions on employee mobility," the suit reads.

The suit charges Apple with instigating the deals and even features a diagram depicting Apple's central place in the scheme, which also included Intuit, Pixar and Lucasfilm. "Every agreement alleged herein directly involved a company either controlled by Apple's CEO, or a company that shared a member of its board of directors with Apple," the suit said.

The agreements among the companies started when Pixar and Lucasfilm agreed to eliminate competition between them for skilled labor, the suit alleges. Apple CEO Steve Jobs started Pixar when he bought Lucasfilm's computer graphics division.

Next to enter into an agreement against poaching with Apple was Adobe, according to the suit. Google, which shared a board member with Apple at the time, was next. The other companies followed, entering into identical agreements, the suit alleges.

The plaintiffs are asking the court for certification as a class and restitution and damages.