Antitrust Class Action – Alleged Unlawful Conspiracy to Suppress Employee Compensation
On May 1, 2018, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. and other co-counsel filed a class action complaint in United States District Court for the District of Maryland under the antitrust laws of the United States against Defendants Knorr-Bremse AG, Knorr Brake Company LLC, New York Air Brake LLC (collectively, “Knorr”), Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation (“Wabtec”), Wabtec Passenger Transit, a business unit of Wabtec, Wabtec Railway Electronics, a business unit of Wabtec, Faiveley Transport, S.A., a subsidiary of Wabtec, and Faiveley Transport North America, Inc., a subsidiary of Wabtec, based on Defendants’ and unnamed co-conspirators’ unlawful conspiracy to suppress Plaintiff’s and Class members’ compensation.
The class action seeks to recover damages for the lost compensation, including treble damages and other appropriate relief. Please click here to review a copy of the filed class action complaint.
WERE YOU PAID FOR PERSONAL SERVICES BY KNORR-BREMSE AG, KNORR BRAKE COMPANY, NEW YORK AIR BRAKE, WESTINGHOUSE AIR BRAKE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION (“WABTEC”), WABTEC PASSENGER TRANSIT, WABTEC RAILWAY ELECTRONICS, FAIVELEY TRANSPORT, S.A., FAIVELEY TRANSPORT NORTH AMERICA OR ANY WHOLLY-OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF ANY DEFENDANT, INCLUDING DEFENDANTS’ EMPLOYEES OR CONTRACTORS AT ANY TIME BETWEEN 2009 AND THE PRESENT?
If so, then you may have a claim for compensation arising from the anticompetitive conduct. Please contact Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. to discuss your potential legal claims. If you wish to discuss your concerns privately with an attorney, please contact Michael Yarnoff, Esq., (215) 792-6676, Ext. 804, [email protected].
The federal antitrust class action was brought by and on behalf of individuals who have performed work for Defendants, who are some of the world’s largest rail equipment suppliers and subsidiaries or business units thereof. Rail equipment personnel, like personnel in any labor market, benefit when their employers compete for their services. Competition in the labor market creates leverage for personnel, which, in turn, leads to higher wages and greater mobility.
Allegedly, from 2009 to the present, Defendants, along with other unnamed individuals and entities acting as co-conspirators, conspired not to recruit, solicit, or hire without prior approval each other’s personnel (the “No-Poach Conspiracy” or “Conspiracy”). The No-Poach Conspiracy, which is a per se violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1, limited the Plaintiff’s and Class members’ job mobility and, in turn, suppressed their compensation below the levels that would have been available absent the Conspiracy.
On April 3, 2018, Defendants Knorr and Wabtec announced their agreement to settle charges brought by the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), after the DOJ’s lengthy investigation of the No-Poach Conspiracy. The DOJ found that Defendants’ agreements that formed the No-Poach Conspiracy were per se violations of the Sherman Act. The DOJ stated these agreements “were facially anticompetitive because they eliminated a significant form of competition to attract skilled labor in the U.S. rail industry.” Specifically, the DOJ said further that “these agreements denied employees access to better job opportunities, restricted their mobility, and deprived them of competitively significant information that they could have used to negotiate for better terms of employment.”
Although the DOJ and Defendants have reached a settlement, pursuant to which Defendants have agreed to certain ongoing conduct remedies, the DOJ settlement does not provide relief for those who were injured by the No-Poach Conspiracy. Without this class action, Plaintiff and the Class will not receive compensation for their injuries, and Defendants will continue to retain the benefits of their unlawful collusion.
The Proposed Knorr, New York Air Brake, Wabtec, Faiveley Transport Antitrust Class
The proposed antitrust action Class consists of all natural persons who were paid for personal services by any of the Defendants, or by any wholly-owned subsidiary of any Defendant, including Defendants’ employees or contractors, at any time from January 1, 2009, to the present. Excluded from the Class are senior executives and personnel in the human resources and recruiting departments of the Defendants and their wholly owned subsidiaries, as well as personnel hired outside of the United States to work outside of the United States.