Have you worked as an engineer, engine designer, manufacturer or other skilled worker at a major aerospace company since 2011?
Your wages may have been lower due to an alleged wage-fixing agreement between the nation's biggest aerospace companies in the nation.
Hagens Berman has filed a nationwide class-action lawsuit alleging wage-fixing and no-hire practices in the aerospace industry potentially affecting aerospace engineers and their wages. The law firm is specifically making allegations regarding the hiring and compensation practices of six of the nation's largest aerospace engine design, manufacture and service companies in the U.S. for what we believe evidence will show has been a years-long wage-fixing, no-hire agreement, causing employees to receive far less for their work than they are legally owed. This alleged no-poach scheme in the aerospace industry, we believe, amounts to an antitrust violation.
DEFENDANTS — AEROSPACE EMPLOYERS
The firm’s lawsuit pertains to many aerospace engineering companies, and our firm is actively seeking to hear from those who have been employed, or are current employees, at one of the following aerospace companies:
- Pratt & Whitney
- QuEST Global Services NA
- Belcan LLC
- Cyient Inc. (formerly known as Infotech Enterprises Ltd.)
- Parametric Solutions Inc.
- Agilis Inc.
AEROSPACE ENGINEER WAGE-FIXING ALLEGATIONS EXPLAINED
According to the lawsuit, for nearly a decade, multiple aerospace design, manufacture and service companies have conspired and combined to fix and depress the compensation paid to aerospace engineers at some of the largest aerospace employers in the world, allegedly in violation of federal law. Hagens Berman believes alleged the no-poach, anticompetitive practices occurred between 2011 and the present.
Together these companies control a significant percent of the United States aerospace market, and own and operate many aerospace operation plants and facilities in the continental United States. These companies employ hundreds of thousands of engineers who have devoted their livelihoods to designing and building components necessary to U.S. infrastructure, security and innovation.
Specifically, a recent criminal complaint filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges that one of the largest aerospace engine design, manufacture and service companies in the U.S. colluded with outsource supply engineering companies to restrict recruitment and hiring of engineers and other skilled workers. This alleged scheme operated in order to restrict the hiring and recruiting of engineers and other skilled employees between and among them in order to reduce movement and suppress wages for these employees.
We believe that these companies — Pratt & Whitney, QuEST Global Services NA, Belcan LLC, Cyient Inc. (formerly known as Infotech Enterprises Ltd.), Parametric Solutions Inc. and Agilis Inc. — have collectively suppressed wage rates and employment benefits based on a calculated system, stifling competition across similar places of employment and positions within the aerospace industry, all to increase overall profits to the detriment of aerospace engineers.
METHODS OF ALLEGED AEROSPACE ENGINEER WAGE SUPPRESSION
- An intermediary between the suppliers allegedly enforced the agreement between the aerospace companies, going as far as to directly instruct to not hire in order to suppress a “price war” in aerospace wages and suppress poaching, according to the lawsuit
- The plaintiffs claim that prohibitions included hiring freezes and suppression of hiring supplier employees until the employee had worked for two years.
- “Private discussion” allegedly occurred among conspirators in order to share information about the conspiracy, no-poach policies and police the actions of involved parties to enforce the scheme.
- Suppliers alerted others in the event of a violation of the no-hire agreement, and other parties were encouraged to prevent or deter the conduct, the lawsuit claims.
YOUR RIGHTS AS AN AEROSPACE EMPLOYEE
When employers cooperate to stifle employee pay for the sake of their profits, workers always lose, and we’re here to challenge this illegal wage-fixing. Those who may be affected in this case include aerospace engineers who have occupied various positions at the defendant companies.
Under federal antitrust law, the Sherman Act, your wages as an employee are protected under law that prohibits agreements that stifle competition and lead to (in this case) lower wages within a single industry or area of work.
TOP EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS AND ANTITRUST FIRM
Hagens Berman is one of the most successful employment and antitrust litigation law firms in the U.S. and has achieved more than $320 billion in settlements for individuals in lawsuits against big banks, technology corporations, automakers and others. Hagens Berman has achieved many monumental settlements in antitrust suits, and wage-fixing, having secured a $168 million settlement for wage-fixing in the animation industry. The firm has also taken on aerospace giant Boeing in various litigation, including a $92 million securities settlement. Your claim will be handled by attorneys experienced in employment and antitrust law.
NO COST TO YOU
In no case will any class member ever be asked to pay any out-of-pocket sum. In the event Hagens Berman or any other firm obtains a settlement that provides benefits to class members, the court will decide a reasonable fee to be awarded to the class's legal team.
