How 6 words turned an age bias lawsuit into a 6-figure retaliation payout

by Christian Schappel

\

A western PA-based employer probably regrets that one of its managers uttered just six words to a shift supervisor. 

The manager approached Rudolph Karlo, who’d been brought in through a subcontractor, and said Karlo would be considered for a full-time position if he “made the whole thing go away.”

The “thing” the manager was referring to was an age discrimination lawsuit Karlo filed against the employer, Pittsburgh Glass Works.

Laid off after change in ownership

Prior to the manager’s comment, Karlo was an engineering specialist and production line supervisor for the company until March of 2009.

It was at that time, which was shortly after a reshuffling of company ownership, Karlo and about 100 other workers were terminated as part of a company-wide workforce reduction, according to a report by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Karlo and six other men in their 50s reacted by filing an age discrimination lawsuit. The suit claimed Pittsburgh Glass Works was populating production facilities with younger workers at the expense of older workers.

Then, in the fall of 2009, Karlo was rehired through a subcontractor to work at one of the company’s plants in East Deer, PA, as a shift maintenance supervisor.

Click here for entire article.