Another wonderful reason to dislike IBM. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: IBM Age Discrimination Law Suit Date: 26 Sep 2003 17:30:14 -0000 From: Alliance at IBM <EndicottAlliance at stny.rr.com> Reply-To: notice-reply-8d5bkw2h5d6e at unionvoice.org To: Samuel MacDonald <smac at visi.com> <http://www.allianceibm.org> News and links for IBM employees, contractors and retirees concerned with workplace issues please visit <http://www.allianceibm.org/>www.allianceibm.org <http://www.allianceibm.org> Brought to you by the Alliance at IBM/CWA Local 1701, the National organizing campaign for IBM employees --------------------------------------------------------------------- You can now join the age discrimination in layoffs suit, but time is short. The deadline for signing up is October 1, but do not wait until then. Please sign up now, today. Anyone who was laid off by IBM and is older than 40 can join the suit whether or not you filed an EEOC complaint. After meeting with several firms and spending many hours discussing with these firms we have a decision: The firm that will represent us and that will file our age discrimination suit is: McTeague, Higbee, Case, Cohen, Whitney & Tolan, PA , 4 Union Park PO Box 5000 Topsham, Maine 04086 The attorneys are: Patrick McTeague pmcteague at maine-law.com <http://lw10fd.law10.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?mailto=1&msg=MSG1064507318.88&;start=2972990&len=13688&src=&type=x&to=pmcteague%40maine%2dlaw%2ecom&cc=&bcc=&subject=&body=&curmbox=F000000001&a=65949d649e3c8e8f1427cb7e5ae1996f> and Jeff Young jyoung at me-law.com <http://lw10fd.law10.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?mailto=1&msg=MSG1064507318.88&start=2972990&len=13688&src=&type=x&to=jyoung%40me%2dlaw%2ecom&cc=&bcc=&subject=&body=&curmbox=F000000001&a=65949d649e3c8e8f1427cb7e5ae1996f> their toll free phone number is 800-482-09 58 or you can call 207-725-5581 Fax 207-725-1090 41 of us met with Patrick McTeague and Jeff Young yesterday in two meetings in Essex Junction, Vermont and over a teleconference link that included former IBMers in San Jose, Atlanta, New York, Charlette, Austin, and Vermont. The McTeague firm practices employment law and they have extensive experience with complex class action cases. They have substantial experience and expertise in age discrimination litigation against large companies. They seem to really know their stuff. We _need a minimum of 50 people_ to join the suit, but we think many more will want to join. We need as many as possible. If we have more than 100 join, our cost will go down. We are hoping that hundreds will join the suit. The two attorneys seem confident that they can beat the waiver. That will be the first item in the suit. There is a very strong sense of urgency to file the suit by October 1 since many of us received letters from the EEOC saying we have 90 (or 60) days to file a suit in federal court. That means that _if we miss that deadline by even one day we lose all rights_. Time is up for some on or shortly after October 1, and we all should file in one case that names each of us as a plaintiff. So time is of the essence. We worked very hard to find experienced attorneys during these past two months. It was difficult because we had all signed the waiver and most firms were unsure how to handle that problem. This firm has experience and knowledge with the law that protects older workers, and we feel that they can do an excellent job and that they can overcome the waiver. The cost is $500.00 per person. This money will be applied for legal fees and expenses for overcoming the waiver. Only if we win on that issue we will then need to put in another $500 per person to go only toward actual expenses (and not toward legal fees). Expenses include hiring expert witnesses for proving our age discrimination case. _That total of $1000 each will be the total out of pocket amount for the entire case, including any appeal._ The law firm will only collect a substantial fee if they win the case. They will then share in the winnings. The share the attorneys get depends on how many of us join the suit. Their share goes down if we have more join. If 50 join, the attorney share will be 33%, if more than 100 join, it goes down to 25%. Our time is very short. Please do not delay. Once rights are lost they cannot be recovered. We need to have all interested signed up by October 1...sooner if possible. I would suggest that if you are interested that we wrap this up by Friday, if possible. You can pay with a credit card over the phone. Or you can send a check in the mail. Please do not delay. Please call or e-mail so that they can send you a package with information on the firm and a retainer agreement. *Even if you did not file a claim with EEOC you can participate in this suit. * One attractive feature is that if someone's particular case is dismissed and others prevail, the person whose case is dismissed will get his or her money back in full. We have all been harmed by IBM's age discriminatory actions, and by joining together we have a good chance of winning back pay including benefits, front pay, added retirement, and retirement medical. Some of this is doubled if we prove that IBM intentionally discriminated. So please consider carefully. I know this is very personal for some, but we have children who will some day grow up and work for a living. We certainly do not want them humiliated and treated as we have been when they get older. It is past due. We have a great opportunity to really make a difference, not just for ourselves but for other IBMers and for workers at other companies too. Let's take advantage of it. Please feel free to call Antonio Rivera at home at 845-227-3619 after 6:00 pm or at work 845-878-2094 ext 219. Or Jimmy Leas at 802 864-1575. Let's do it! Antonio Rivera and Jimmy Leas ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Visit the web address below to tell your co-workers about this. Tell-a-friend! <http://www.unionvoice.org/join-forward.html?domain=alliance_ibm&r=Upz-3sS13pqi> If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Alliance at IBM <http://www.unionvoice.org/alliance_ibm/join.html?r=Upz-3sS13pqiE>. If you would like to unsubscribe from Alliance at IBM, or update your account settings, please click here <http://www.unionvoice.org/alliance_ibm/smp.tcl?nkey=8d5bkw2h5d6e> or respond to this email with "REMOVE" as the subject line. <http://> _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list