PPG faces discrimination suit for ADEA, ERISA violations

Five former employees who say they were fired for being too old and costly have hit PPG Industries, Inc., the Pittsburgh-based paint, glass and chemical giant, with a class-action lawsuit. The plaintiffs, all in their fifties, claim PPG violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) in firing hundreds of employees since the late 1990s.

“Corporations have come up with better solutions about how to treat their aging baby boomers other than simply terminating them,” said plaintiffs’ lawyer Bruce Fox. “PPG hasn’t come up with any such solution.”

In 2004, a PPG engineer, fired after 36 years with the company, won $1.03 million in an age-discrimination lawsuit. The company denies making employment decisions based on age.

Final note: Are your personnel files bias-free?  Make sure you can show well-documented, performance-based reasons for all employment actions.