Class Action

ADEA Class Action Defense Cases-Schuler v. PricewaterhouseCoopers: District of Columbia Circuit Reverses District Court Order Dismissing ADEA Class Action Finding Plaintiff Satisfied ADEA Prerequisites For Filing Class Action

By Michael J. Hassen

District Court Erred in Dismissing ADEA (Age Discrimination in Employment Act) Class Action because Plaintiff Satisfied ADEA Prerequisites for Filing Class Action Complaint and because Plaintiff was not Required to File Separate Charges for each Allegedly Discriminatory Failure to Promote Plaintiff District of Columbia Circuit Court Holds

Plaintiff, who worked in Washington, D.C., filed an EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) charge in New York alleging PricewaterhouseCoopers discriminated against him on the basis of age in violation of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) “by maintaining a discriminatory partnership policy under which the company refuses to promote older qualified employees.” Schuler v. PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, ___ F.3d ___, 2008 WL 398968, *1 (D.C. Cir. February 12, 2008). The EEOC dismissed the charge and informed plaintiff of his right to sue. Plaintiff responded by filing a class action complaint in the district court for the District of Columbia; the class action alleged violations of the ADEA and of D.C.’s Human Rights Act. Id. Defense attorneys moved to dismiss the class action complaint: The district court dismissed the class action on the ground that plaintiff “failed to satisfy the ADEA's procedural requirements because he failed to file (1) his EEOC charge with the D.C. Office of Human Rights and (2) a new EEOC charge following the company's allegedly unlawful July 2005 promotion denial.” Id. Plaintiff appealed and the Circuit Court reversed, reinstating his class action.

The class action alleged that PricewaterhouseCoopers requires mandatory retirement at age 60, and that as a result it “rarely promotes employees over the age of forty-five to partner.” Schuler, at *2. This damages qualified employees because “Partners enjoy higher salaries, more generous retirement benefits, and greater responsibilities than other professional employees.” Id. The class action complaint further alleges that PricewaterhouseCoopers “refuses to promote him ‘and other qualified older professional employees’ to partner on the basis of age in violation of the ADEA” and that “he is the longest serving managing director in the firm, having been promoted to that position in 1994, and that his education, training, and experience qualify him for partnership.” Id. (Plaintiff previously sued PwC in 2002 over the same allegedly discriminatory partnership policy. Id., at *2.) The Circuit Court also noted that plaintiff’s EEOC charge had included the instruction: “I want this Class Action Charge filed with both the EEOC and the State and local Agency, if any.” Id., at *3.

Full post as published by Class Action Defense Blog on March 12, 2008 (boomark / email).