a) The lawsuit was settled in 2006 (ref andyjohnson0's post http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4687336). The article doesn't say when it was instigated, but it was likely a couple of years prior to that. In 2006, the tech industry was still working its way out of the collapse of the tech bubble.[1][2] Workers and companies were still pretty shell-shocked.
b) A lot of people live in places where the technology sector is not that strong and thus there are not that many options. Often moving is not a viable option due to family responsibilities or other circumstances.
a) The lawsuit was settled in 2006 (ref andyjohnson0's post http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4687336). The article doesn't say when it was instigated, but it was likely a couple of years prior to that. In 2006, the tech industry was still working its way out of the collapse of the tech bubble.[1][2] Workers and companies were still pretty shell-shocked.
b) A lot of people live in places where the technology sector is not that strong and thus there are not that many options. Often moving is not a viable option due to family responsibilities or other circumstances.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nasdaq2.png