Former Boeing employees sue for age discrimination

Monday, December 19th 2005, 7:10 pm

By: News On 6

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) _ Former employees of The Boeing Co. filed a federal lawsuit Monday in Wichita against Boeing and the buyers of its commercial aircraft operations in Kansas and Oklahoma.

The 75 plaintiffs in the case are claiming age discrimination.

Attorney Lawrence Williamson Junior says the other defendants are the Canadian firm Onex Corporation and its Wichita-based subsidiary, Spirit Aerosystems.

Boeing spokesman Tim Neale says the company hasn't seen the complaint and declines comment for now.

The workers want their jobs back and unspecified compensatory damages and at least $1.5-billion in punitive damages.

Williamson says that after the sale, more qualified older workers were terminated while younger workers were hired by the new company.