Articles

CBS loses age discrimination appeal

by William Opalka, Tribune Review

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday turned down a bid by CBS Corp . to overturn an age-discrimination verdict that used a controversial memorandum that referred to some employees as "blockers."

The justices refused to consider CBS' appeal of an appellate court ruling that entered a 1994 memo into the trial.

The memo, which summarized executive discussions, considered ways in which the company could create opportunities for younger workers. 

The high court left intact a $241,909 jury verdict in favor of John M. Ryder, who was 52 when the former Westinghouse Electric Corp. fired him from his job as staff assistant in 1993. 

Ryder, formerly of Sewickley now lives in Phoenix, AZ.

His attorney, Samuel J. Cordes of Pittsburgh, said the ruling allows a "very important piece of evidence" into age-discrimination cases throughout the country, including six that are pending in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.

The memo summarized discussions of top officials at the company.  Among other things, it said "We have to get the 'blockers' out of the way."  It also said "an eager high-energy person will get more done in one month than someone who has retired... will do in one year."

This information is relevant because we're dealing with sophisticated people who use very subtle language.  You don't have many people in this situation who are dumb enough to say exactly what they mean," Cordes said.

Ryder used that memo to help convince a jury that CBS, then known as Westinghouse Electric, illegally fired him because of his age.  CBS argued unsuccessfully that, because the memo was written more than a year after Ryder lost his job, the document isn't evidence of why the company fired Ryder.

Westinghouse attorneys objected at trial to the "blockers" memo because it referred to high-level discussions that Chairman Michael Jordan had with about 150 top Westinghouse executives in the summer of 1994 - a full year after Ryder was fired.

But U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose allowed the memo into evidence after Cordes argued the "blocker" comments were spurred by corporate concerns that existed when Ryder was fired - even though those concerns weren't put on paper until next year.

Ryder sued Westinghouse in 1993 after he was fired from his $93,000-a-year job as staff assistant at the company's Power and Environmental Systems Group.

The 3rd Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year upheld the verdict and Ambrose's ruling that allowed the crucial memo as evidence in a 1996 trial.

"We still believe that as a matter of law the introduction of the memo was wrong," said Jack Bergen, a CBS spokesman.

Bergen said that in two trial subsequent to the Ryder case, on in Pittsburgh and another in Florida, the plaintiffs' lawyers introduced the same memo but the company prevailed.

"The juries supported us in that the statements were referring to people not by age, but by performance," Bergen said.  "They wee not advancing the interests of the corporation with their full energy."

Bergen said CBS does not usually comment on pending litigation, but it is pursuing a case of "wrongful disclosure of proprietary information" against Ryder.