The U.S. District Court of Western Pennsylvania has granted class certification to the former employees in a discrimination suit filed against Pittsburgh Glass Works (PGW). In addition, the court denied PGW’s motion for summary judgment.
The U.S. District Court of Western Pennsylvania has granted class certification to the former employees in a discrimination suit filed against Pittsburgh Glass Works (PGW). In addition, the court denied PGW’s motion for summary judgment.
“Plaintiffs shall pursue discovery as to the proposed class of employees who were, on or about March 30 and 31, 2009, (a) 50 years of age or older; (b) who were employed by PGW; (c) who were members of the salaried workforce; and (d) who were terminated from employment with PGW by the RIF implemented on March 30 and 31, 2009,” reads the court’s order.
The suit was originally filed in October 2010 and the plaintiffs in the suit include seven former employees who allege they were let go during a March 2009 reduction-in-force due to their age. The five plaintiffs are Rudolph Karlo, Mark McLure, William Cunningham, Jeffrey Marietti, David Meixelsberger, Benjamin Thompson and Richard Csukas. The plaintiffs, who are all between the ages of 52 and 58, were let go at the end of March 2009, when the company laid off several employees as part of a reorganization.
In the September 30 complaint, they allege that PGW “adopt[ed] and employ[ed] methods for evaluating, ranking and selecting employees for termination in its [reductions-in-force], which methods were highly subjective, unreliable, invalid, and served as mere pretext, resulting in the termination of disproportionately high numbers of older workers who were never informed of the clandestine criteria used to select them for termination.”
The court has ordered PGW to produce an up-to-date list of potential class members by May 25. The plaintiffs will be sending the notice out to this list by June 1 and all opt-in letters should be postmarked by July 16.