SECOND LIVERMORE LAYOFF TRIAL LOOMING

The second phase of a trial pitting laid off Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employees against their former employer is gearing up and could start as early as next week. A pretrial hearing on several motions—including an effort by the lab to delay the trial because of the government shutdown—is scheduled for Wednesday. Barring any hiccups, jury selection in the trial will begin Oct. 28 and opening statements could take place the first week of November. The five workers—66-year-old Elaine Andrews, 63-year-old Greg Olsen, 61-year-old Marian Barraza, 60-year-old James “Rocky” Torrice, and 57-year-old Mario Jimenez—were awarded $2.7 million earlier this year in a breach of contract case, and the second phase of the trial will deal with the employees’ claims that they were the victims of age discrimination during a 2008 layoff of 440 lab employees. The five workers represent a “test case” out of the group of 130 former lab workers that are suing contractor Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, in connection with the 2008 layoff. Gary Gwilliam, a lawyer for the workers, said he plans to introduce statistical evidence showing that workers older than 40 were targeted in the layoff, which was not a part of the first case. “I feel very strongly our case is stronger,” Gwilliam told NW&M Monitor. “We have everything we have before, all the reasons the jury found in our favor, plus the statistical evidence we couldn’t get in. The jury in the first case knew without a doubt there was age discrimination. Now we can prevent the statistical evidence.” Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory did not respond to a request for comment.