Stouffer v. Union Railroad Co., No. 22-1680 (3d Cir. 2023)
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Stouffer was terminated at age 41 after working eight years for the Railroad. He sued, on behalf of himself and others similarly situated (Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. 621), claiming that the Railroad targeted senior employees with sham workplace violations, forcing them to sign last-chance agreements that waived formal disciplinary proceedings. Stouffer called a superior a “jagoff” under his breath. In a meeting with management and his union representative, Stouffer was told he could either sign a last-chance agreement or go to a hearing and be fired. Stouffer signed a three-year last-chance agreement. Stouffer alleges that he was subsequently subject to micromanagement, surreptitious surveillance, denials of meal periods and headlamp batteries, and improperly-staffed shifts, while younger employees were not similarly treated. In 2018, Stouffer was working on a train driven by a younger driver when it ran through a switch. Stouffer was immediately terminated. The younger driver was not terminated.
The district court held that Stouffer had failed to allege facts supporting the existence of a scheme that could constitute a policy hiding age-based discrimination and that Stouffer had not alleged any facts showing that the policy disparately impacted workers over the age of 40. The Third Circuit affirmed, first holding that its review was not precluded by the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. 151, because it did not require interpretation of a collective bargaining agreement. Stouffer’s complaint lacks the necessary factual allegations as to statistical disparities.
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