Pratt & Whitney settles engineers' no-poach lawsuit for $33 mln

Cyient

03/09/2024 23:13

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      Settlements in litigation total $60 million
    

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      Pratt was last defendant in the antitrust case
    

  
    By Mike Scarcella
       Sept 3 (Reuters) - Aerospace giant RTX’s Pratt & Whitney
unit has agreed to pay $33 million to resolve a class action
claiming it artificially suppressed wages for tens of thousands
of current and former engineers.
    The company disclosed on Friday it had reached a deal in
principle in a filing in Connecticut federal court, where
lawsuits were filed in 2022 claiming Pratt and five engineering
staffing firms violated U.S. antitrust law by agreeing not to
poach employees from each other.
    The full terms of the deal will be presented to the court in
the coming weeks, but a source familiar with the proposal said
RTX had agreed to pay $33 million to exit the litigation. The
settlement requires approval by U.S. District Judge Sarala
Nagala.
    RTX's Pratt & Whitney, which has denied any wrongdoing, was
the remaining defendant in a lawsuit that was a consolidation of
related cases. RTX declined to comment on Tuesday.
    Attorneys for the plaintiffs at law firms Quinn Emanuel
Urquhart & Sullivan and DiCello Levitt did not immediately
respond to requests for comment.
    Nine named plaintiffs, all former engineers for Pratt and
other defendants, sued Pratt and the staffing firms after the
U.S. Justice Department in late 2021 charged a former Pratt
executive and others in a criminal conspiracy to restrict
employee mobility.
    After a trial in that case, a federal judge acquitted the
defendants before the jury issued a verdict.
    Nagala was assigned to oversee more than 20 similar civil
lawsuits against Pratt and the other defendants.
    The plaintiffs in the civil cases alleged Pratt led a
conspiracy to restrict recruitment and hiring, keeping
engineers’ wages lower than they otherwise would have been in a
competitive market. The lawsuits sought compensation for a class
estimated at 43,000 members.
    In earlier proposed settlements, Belcan Engineering said it
would pay $9.9 million, QuEST Global Services agreed to pay $8.2
million, Cyient agreed to pay $7.4 million, and Agilis
Engineering settled for $1 million.
    A fifth defendant, Parametric Solutions, is in bankruptcy
and agreed to cooperate with the plaintiffs but not pay any
monetary penalty.
    Agilis, which had a leniency agreement with the U.S. Justice
Department, admitted to the plaintiffs that the company
participated in a recruitment-related conspiracy. The other
defendants have denied any wrongdoing.
    The case is Borozny v. Raytheon Technologies Corp, Pratt &
Whitney Division, U.S. District Court for the District of
Connecticut, No. 3:21-cv-01657.
    For plaintiffs: Daniel Brockett of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart &
Sullivan; and Gregory Asciolla of DiCello Levitt
    For RTX: Chahira Solh of Crowell & Moring; and John Cerreta
of Day Pitney
    
    Read more:
    Engineering firms to pay $26.5 mln to exit antitrust lawsuit
over wages
    Aerospace managers acquitted in labor-related antitrust
prosecution
    Quinn Emanuel, DiCello firms will lead 'no poach' aerospace
lawsuits