The Giant That Denied Severance to Workers Old Enough to Retire. This is What Happened.

In November 1982, Charles Slackway, 62, filed an age discrimination charge against Westinghouse after being laid off from its Lester, Pennsylvania, facility. At the time, the company's severance plans held back severance pay from laid-off workers who were old enough to retire. His case grew from 35 names into a nationwide lawsuit, and on March 26, 1986, a federal judge in Philadelphia called the treatment of those workers "blatant, willful age discrimination." Then the Supreme Court decided Betts, and the Third Circuit ordered judgment for Westinghouse. This is the court fight that lasted more than eight years, from the East Pittsburgh Works to the courts that shaped the rights of older workers. In this documentary: how George Westinghouse founded the Westinghouse Electric Company in 1886 and built the East Pittsburgh plant, where up to 22,000 people worked; the July 1982 contract deal reached shortly before a midnight strike deadline; how the generator and turbine divisions merged and moved to Orlando; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the "bona fide benefit plan" exemption; the Third Circuit's 1989 ruling; the Supreme Court's 1989 decision in Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio v. Betts; the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act of October 16, 1990; and the Third Circuit's final judgment for Westinghouse on January 31, 1991. CHAPTERS 0:00 Charles Slackway's Charge 2:02 George Westinghouse and the Electric Age 5:38 East Pittsburgh and the Westinghouse Works 10:58 Severance Pay and Pension Promises 12:57 The 1982 Strike Deadline 17:28 Lester, East Pittsburgh, and Orlando 20:04 The Severance Rule and the Belleville Case 24:10 Slackway's Charge Becomes a National Case 28:55 Judge Katz's 1986 Ruling 33:55 The Plans and Westinghouse's Defense 37:17 The Third Circuit's First Decision 40:50 Betts Reaches the Supreme Court 44:00 The Final Appeal and Westinghouse's Victory 48:59 What Became of East Pittsburgh 53:24 The Law That Came Too Late Westinghouse's side is told through the company's own arguments and the courts' final rulings. Every quote is attributed to the court opinion or document it comes from. This channel is history and journalism, not financial advice. Do you think the courts reached a fair outcome for Westinghouse's older workers? Did you or your family work for Westinghouse in East Pittsburgh, Turtle Creek, Lester or another plant? Tell us the plant and the year in the comments. Cents On The Dollar tells the true stories of America's fallen companies, from the side of the people who paid for it. Subscribe so these stories aren't forgotten. #westinghouse #agediscrimination #pittsburgh #pennsylvania #laborhistory #workersrights #WestinghouseElectric #severancepay #ADEA #corporatehistory