A federal jury approved a $2 million award in a whistleblower lawsuit against a former unit of PPG after an employee said he was wrongfully terminated from his job when he spoke up.
A former PPG employee, Wallen “Wally” Lawson, was awarded $20,000 in back pay and $2 million in noneconomic damages by a federal jury at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Santa Ana, California. The lawsuit, Wallen Lawson vs. PPG Architectural Finishes Inc., was originally filed by Lawson in May 2018 and then later heard by the U.S. District Court for Central California in Santa Ana.
That unit of PPG is now part of Pittsburgh Paints Co. after PPG (NYSE: PPG) sold it in 2024.
Lawson, 74, was a territory manager for PPG with responsibilities for the company’s paint products at Lowe’s in southern California. In his lawsuit and subsequent court documents, Lawson claimed a manager at PPG had directed employees to mis-tint poor-selling paints at Lowe’s and have them put on the discount rack to keep PPG from having to repurchase them from the home retailer. Lawson, who reported it to PPG management and confronted the manager, was later put on a performance improvement plan by the manager and then later fired.
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