On May 6, 2008, individual plaintiffs filed a collective action in the Western District of Pennsylvania for unlawful retaliation under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) including the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA), against PPG Industries, a Pennsylvania corporation. The plaintiffs, who were former employees of PPG, requested that the court certify the class, declare the individual plaintiffs to serve as representative plaintiffs, and grant a declaratory judgment.

Plaintiffs had previously filed a class action in 2007, EE-PA-0242, against PPG for violations of the ADEA for PPG's practice of having terminated older workers sign release agreements in which the terminated workers waived claims under the ADEA. Plaintiffs argued, however, that the agreements were not compliant with the OWBPA and were therefore unenforceable. Defendant counterclaimed that plaintiffs were in breach of the agreements, which contained covenants not to sue. Plaintiffs claim they were essentially forced to sign these agreements in order to obtain severance benefits upon their termination.

Based on the parties' interactions in the previous case, plaintiffs brought this suit claiming that defendant knew or should have known that its counterclaim in the first suit was not viable and that its intent in bringing the claim was to retaliate against the plaintiffs for enforcing their rights under the ADEA. Plaintiffs also claim that defendant has threatened future retaliation for plaintiffs' attempts to enforce their rights under the ADEA.

On June 17, 2008, defendant filed an unopposed motion to consolidate this case with the original case filed by plaintiffs in May 2007, EE-PA-0242. On June 18, 2008, the District Court (Judge Arthur Schwab) granted defendant's order to consolidate the cases. Accordingly, further proceedings in this case can be found at EE-PA-0242.

Marcy Blattner - 02/03/2015


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