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Home » Latest News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Steven Sprenger
Sprenger + Lang
(202) 772-1160 (phone)

May 4, 2009 (San Jose, CA) - Current and former employees of 3M Company (NYSE: MMM) filed a class action lawsuit today in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the Minnesota-based corporation alleging age discrimination in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), according to their attorneys at Sprenger & Lang, AARP Foundation Litigation, and Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen & Dardarian. The potential class of plaintiffs includes more than 6,000 current and former 3M employees, including approximately 50 men and women who have already opted in to the lawsuit.

The complaint alleges that since at least 2001 3M intentionally has discriminated against employees over age 46 in performance appraisals, training, promotions and pay because it perceives them as unwilling or unable to accept or adequately implement the company's new management techniques. As the final indignity, 3M fires or forces these older employees into retirement or resignation, according to the complaint.

In addition, to try to shield itself from liability for its discrimination, 3M has caused departing employees to sign releases that misrepresent their rights and fail to give them required information necessary to determine whether they have been the victims of age discrimination.

The complaint alleges that age discrimination at 3M stems largely from the company's selection of persons for intensive "Six Sigma" training, a management methodology 3M adopted in 2001. According to the complaint, 3M selects very few persons over age 45 for training as Six Sigma "Black Belts" or "Master Black Belts" compared to their presence in the workforce, and selection gives younger employees huge advantages in subsequent employment decisions.

The plaintiffs claim that 3M also discriminates against older employees by using a performance appraisal system requiring lower ratings for a preset percentage of employees in each business unit, even if the objective quality of their work is higher than reflected by the rating. The complaint alleges that older workers have been disproportionately downgraded in this system, with negative effects on promotion, pay, and termination decisions.

The California case comes on the heels of Sprenger + Lang's similar filing with AARP Foundation Litigation in Ramsey County, Minnesota on behalf of current and former Minnesota employees of 3M. The Judge in that case certified a class of older workers, noting that the evidence "strongly suggests a consistent pattern across 3M's business units of disparities suffered by older employees in each of the human resources practices challenged." The Judge also observed that "[t]he policies established by 3M executives suggest strategies that favor younger employees to the detriment of members of the proposed class." Last week, the Minnesota Court of Appeals instructed the Judge to formalize his factual findings when he revisits the issue of class certification.

Sprenger + Lang asserts that the practices in place at 3M in Minnesota are identical to those at the company's other locations. As the Judge in Ramsey County also said, there is every reason to believe that, outside of Minnesota, those same practices would similarly produce "a consistent pattern across 3M's business units of disparities suffered by older employees in each of the human resources practices challenged."

"3M has shown a pattern of unlawful discriminatory behavior across multiple states in which it operates, and we will aggressively pursue justice for each of the affected employees," said Steven Sprenger of Sprenger + Lang, counsel for the plaintiffs.

"We will continue to seek changes in the way 3M promotes employees over the age of 45 so that everyone has an equal opportunity, not just younger workers," said Co-Counsel Thomas Osborne, with AARP Foundation Litigation.

For more information about the case, please visit www.ageclassaction.com.

ABOUT SPRENGER & LANG

Sprenger & Lang, with offices in Minneapolis and Washington, DC, has obtained some of the country's largest gender, age, and race discrimination and ERISA judgments on behalf of tens of thousands of employees. Sprenger & Lang has successfully represented classes of plaintiffs against companies such as American Express Financial Advisors, CBS, Northwest Airlines, First Union, Amtrak, and Ceridian Corporation. For more information about the firm, please visit http://www.sprengerlang.com.