Connecticut’s Pratt & Whitney and several nearby aerospace engineering firms have been named in a class-action suit alleging representatives of the companies conspired to prevent lateral hires between the organizations in an effort to restrain competition and limit salaries.

Filed on behalf of former Pratt & Whitney employee David Granata of Cranston, Rhode Island, the suit claims an illegal nonpoaching policy at Pratt, a division of Massachusetts-based Raytheon Technologies, and the other companies dates back at least a decade, and involved company executives entering into secretive, unlawful agreements in which employers agreed not to compete for employees, in turn suppressing compensation for potentially more than 1,000 workers.