Robins Kaplan LLP Files Lawsuit Alleging Major Rail Equipment Suppliers Entered into Unlawful No-Poach Agreements

New York, NY—April 30, 2018—National trial firm Robins Kaplan LLP^® has filed a proposed class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania alleging three of the world’s largest rail equipment suppliers entered into unlawful no-poach agreements to restrain competition in the labor market in which they compete for employees. The complaint alleges Knorr-Bremse AG (Knorr), Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation (Wabtec), and Faiveley Transport S.A. (Faiveley) violated the Sherman Act by agreeing to not solicit, recruit, or hire each other’s employees.

According to the complaint, beginning as early as 2009, defendants agreed to not recruit or hire each other’s workers without prior approval. These agreements substantially limited rail industry workers’ access to better opportunities and deprived them of information they could have used in negotiating better terms of employment, including higher compensation.

Robins Kaplan filed the complaint on behalf of a former employee of a Faiveley entity and all persons employed by the defendants from 2009 to the present.

On April 3, 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it had reached a settlement with Knorr and Wabtec, charging them with unlawfully entering into no-poach agreements to restrain competition in the labor market. The DOJ originally uncovered these agreements while investigating the proposed merger of Faiveley and Wabtec.

Robins Kaplan partners Hollis Salzman, Kellie Lerner, and Thomas Undlin, as well as counsel Tai Milder and Aaron Sheanin, are representing the proposed class.

The case is Dustin Theobald v. Knorr-Bremse Ag; Knorr Brake Company; New York Air Brake Company; Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation; and Faiveley Transport North America Inc., No. 18-cv-00526 (W.D. Pa).