AT&T Class Action Alleges Older Employees Unlawfully Laid Off

Four former managers for AT&T are bringing an age discrimination class action lawsuit alleging the company has been laying off older workers en masse.

Plaintiffs Roy Horowitz, Linda Larson, Kempten Pollard and Katherine Seaman all say they lost their jobs with defendant AT&T due to their age. They allege that AT&T has been unlawfully shedding older employees in an attempt to make room for newer, younger workers.

According to this AT&T class action lawsuit, AT&T has been implementing a company-wide plan to replace its older workers with younger ones by the year 2020.

The plan involves removing older workers using a three-step process, the plaintiffs claim. First, AT&T places an employee on “surplus” status. The employee then has the opportunity to apply for an alternative position.

The plaintiffs claim the application process for these alternative positions is biased towards favoring younger workers.

In implementing this lateral-move process, plaintiffs claim managers have the option of sending job postings only to younger workers. Internal postings are sometimes deleted and re-posted as external postings, then filled with younger hires from outside the company, the plaintiffs claim.

“Surplus” employees who do not secure an alternative position are then terminated, the AT&T class action states.

The plaintiffs claim that as part of this reduction in force, AT&T allegedly and falsely told its older outgoing workers that if they wanted to receive a severance payment, they would have to give up their right to sue the company for age discrimination.

Such a waiver is legally unenforceable, the plaintiffs claim. A set of amendments to the ADEA known as the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act places strict and unqualified controls on waivers like these.

Not only is the waiver unenforceable, the plaintiffs claim, but AT&T’s representations about that waiver are false and fraudulent, designed to trick laid off employees out of enforcing their rights against AT&T.

“Unless AT&T’s fraudulent deception is rectified by this Court, a great and untold number of employees who were unlawfully terminated because of their age will never know that they can in fact vindicate their rights by bringing an action against AT&T for age discrimination,” the plaintiffs claim.

The four named plaintiffs seek to represent a plaintiff Class – technically, a “collective” in ADEA terms – consisting of all former non-union AT&T employees who, while age 40 or older and since May 20, 2015, received a “Surplus Notification Letter” from AT&T, were terminated, and were presented with a General Release and Waiver that offered severance pay and was accompanied by an ADEA Information Notice Under the OWBPA and an “ADEA Listing.”

Plaintiffs are asking the court for an order notifying Class Members about this AT&T class action lawsuit, including notice that the waiver did not truly eliminate their right to sue. They also seek awards of damages, injunctive and declaratory relief, court costs and attorneys’ fees, and any other relief the court deems appropriate.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Stephen G. Console, Laura C. Mattiacci, Susan M. Saint-Antoine and Emily R. Derstine-Friesen of Console Mattiacci Law LLC.

The AT&T Age Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit is Roy Horowitz, et al. v. AT&T Inc., et al., Case No. 3:17-cv-04827, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

UPDATE: On April 25, 2018, AT&T lost a bid to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging the company discriminates against older workers.