A Connecticut federal judge has given an early win to aerospace engineers alleging that a division of Raytheon Technologies Corp and five other companies conspired to restrict employment opportunities and suppress wages in violation of US antitrust law.
US District Judge Sarala Nagala on Friday declined to dismiss private civil claims against Raytheon’s Pratt & Whitney division, a leading manufacturer of civil and military airline engines, and the other defendants named as outsource suppliers for skilled aerospace labor.
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Nagala, presiding over consolidated claims in more than 30 lawsuits filed in 2021 and last year, will allow the litigation to proceed to discovery, the fact-gathering step.
In her 32-page ruling, Nagala said the plaintiffs’ complaint “adequately alleges that the no-poach agreements at issue had no legitimate business purpose.” But “whether plaintiffs will eventually be able to produce evidence to substantiate this claim at summary judgment or trial is a question for another day,” Nagala wrote.
