Colonie
A former General Electric Co. worker is suing the company, claiming the company withheld his severance payment when he was laid off from a local locomotive parts repair facility in late 2016 because he was injured at the time and collecting workers compensation benefits.
Todd Macchi of Stillwater, who filed the suit April 5 in federal court in Albany, was one of dozens of workers at the GE Transportation Engine Systems plant in Colonie who lost their jobs in December of 2016 as GE prepared to close the plant the following May.
Although Macchi was entitled to a severance package and other benefits totaling nearly $95,000, he was never paid any of it, unlike other workers in the plant, he claims.
That's because, he says, he was still collecting workers compensation insurance after injuring his knee on the job in October of 2016, and GE wanted him to end the insurance claim before he would be paid his severance, the lawsuit claims.
Macchi's attorney, Sarah Burger of the firm Ianniello Anderson in Saratoga Springs, said the workers comp issue should not have any bearing on Macchi's severance package, which should have included a lump sum payment of $58,000, plus a cash payment of $6,071 for 25 unused vacation days he still had.
Macchi, a technician and assembly mechanic who rebuilt turbo charger components for GE locomotives, made $30.35 an hour, although GE reduced his pay and the pay of other workers to $28.39 about a year before it closed the plant in what it said was an effort to try to save the plant and make it more competitive. Macchi and his co-workers were not represented by a union.
GE ultimately decided to close the plant because it said it was moving the work to India to be close to a large locomotive customer. About 50 people worked at the facility, which was located on Northway Lane near the Colonie Police Department.
Macchi was also supposed to receive $30,000 in so-called income extension aid from GE that he was entitled to during the first four months of 2017 when he was getting unemployment insurance following the layoff.
"The law is clear that he is entitled to separation pay regardless of his claim regarding workplace injuries," Burger said.
It is unclear why GE ultimately decided not to pay Macchi yet give others at the plant their severance.
However, the suit states that Macchi was first told that the non-payment was a "mistake." Later he was told by GE's payroll department that he would not get any of his plant closing benefits until he "ended his workers compensation claim."
Deia Campanelli, a spokesperson for GE Transportation, said the company was "looking into this matter" when reached for comment on the case.
GE employs roughly 6,000 people in the region, most of them in Schenectady County where GE has its headquarters for GE Power and the GE Global Research Center.
The Colonie facility was relatively isolated from those larger operations since it was part of GE Transportation, which is headquartered in Chicago. GE is looking to sell or spin off the $7 billion business unit as it focuses on three core businesses: energy, health care and aviation.
A summons for GE to respond to the complaint was filed with the state Department of State on April 9, and GE has until April 30 to file a response with the court.
Macchi had worked at the facility since 1993, when it was operated by another company that was acquired by GE in 2001.
The lawsuit claims that the March 2016 pay cut violated state labor law and had the effect of reducing Macchi's severance payment calculation to $54,883, a reduction of roughly $3,000 from what it would have been had his salary remained the same.
If Macchi were to win at trial, GE could potentially be liable for roughly a quarter of a million dollars in costs, including the unpaid benefits with interest, cash damages and attorney fees.