Business - Judge tosses age lawsuit against Boeing, Spirit

WICHITA, Kansas (AP) -- A federal judge has dismissed an age discrimination lawsuit against The Boeing Co. and Spirit AeroSystems filed in the wake of Boeing's 2005 sale of commercial airplane operations in Kansas and Oklahoma. U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren summarily ruled Wednesday in favor of the two aerospace giants. He found the evidence was insufficient to establish a pattern of age discrimination during the divestiture. "Noticeably lacking from plaintiff's proof is evidence showing that defendants had an age bias corporate culture or that a corporate policy of discrimination had been adopted. The absence of such evidence in this case proves to be fatal," Melgren wrote in a 44-page order. Ninety former Boeing workers had sued in December 2005 claiming they lost their jobs because of their age. Their lawsuit was granted conditional class-action status a year later under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Their lawsuit cited statements by Jeff Turner, a former Boeing manager and current CEO of Spirit acknowledging the aerospace giant had concerns about the age of its work force when it was trying to sell those facilities. Turner told a manager within a year of the divestiture that "Boeing's work force was getting older and that the managers needed to find ways to do something about it." But Melgren wrote that when Turner's comment is viewed "in the correct context, it is clear that it is benign." The judge said it is clear that Turner and other upper-level managers were concerned about workers' ages because they were afraid that a large percentage of their employees would retire within a few years of each other and leave Boeing with an inexperienced work force. Published: Thu, Jul 1, 2010

––––––––––––––––––––
 Subscribe to the Legal News!
 https://test.legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available