Aeton Law Partners, in Middletown Connecticut, and Freed Kanner London & Millen of Illinois filed a class action lawsuit against Connecticut’s Pratt & Whitney and several other aerospace companies arising out of a no poaching agreement whereby each company agreed not to recruit or hire employees. The lawsuit alleges that the nonpoaching policy by Pratt dated back at least 10 years and involved several other companies including QuEST Global Services, Belcan Engineering Group, Cyient, Inc., Parametric Solutions, Inc. and Agilis Engineering, Inc.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Bryant Tucker and all other employees similarly situated. Mr. Bryant was an employee of QuEST. Mr. Bryant is represented by Attorneys N. Kane Bennett and Jonathan Shapiro of Aeton Law Partners and Douglas Millen and Kimberly Justice of Freed Kanner London & Millen.
The lawsuit outlines that Pratt & Whitney and others concealed a “No Poach” agreement for years, and it the scheme was only revealed through indictment of Mahesh Patel, a former manager and director at Pratt & Whitney. The criminal complaint against Patel alleges he was the leader and primary enforcer of the agreement to restrict hiring and recruiting. When the indictments were revealed, the United State Department of Justice indicated the investigation showed “a prolonged and widespread scheme to deprive aerospace workers of the ability to plan their careers and earn competitive pay.” The allegations state that the No Poach agreement essentially restricted salaries, hiring and recruiting to avoid a price war.
The essential allegation of the class action lawsuit is an anti-trust action under Section 1 of the Sherman Act and 4 and 16 of the Clayton Act for unfair competition based on an allegedly illegal “No-Poach” agreement. In this case, the Plaintiff alleges the agreement prevented natural labor market competition reducing wages and mobility. The lawsuit alleges the agreement had the effect of limiting employee Class member’s job mobility and suppressed compensation below market levels.
Employees with questions as to whether they qualify for the class of Plaintiffs should contact Aeton Law Partners. Aeton Law Partners is investigating the claims related to this case and accepting new clients on the basis of the allegations in the lawsuit to include employees in engineering and skilled positions for the defendant companies from 2011 to the present date. Employees seeking damages for the cases filed in Connecticut may contact Aeton Law Partners for more information. The lead partners at Aeton Law Partners handling the class action lawsuit against Pratt & Whitney, Belcan, Cyient, QuEST and others are listed below:
CONTACT INFORMATION:
N. Kane Bennett, Partner
nkb@aetonlaw.com
Jonathan Shapiro, Partner
jms@aetonlaw.com
Aeton Law Partners LLP
311 Centerpoint Drive
Middletown, CT 06457
T 860.724.2160
F 860.724.2161
aetonlaw.com