IN BRIEF : Chrysler to Settle Age-Bias Suit

Chrysler Corp. has agreed to pay $5.1 million to about 150 former employees in a settlement of an age-discrimination lawsuit filed in 1981 by a federal agency.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claimed in its suit against Chrysler Motors Corp., the auto makers manufacturing arm, that the salaried workers were forced to retire because of their ages.

The case had been scheduled for trial Tuesday, but Chrysler agreed Dec. 30 to the settlement, under which it admitted no liability or wrongdoing. The auto maker reached a $2.9-million settlement earlier last month with 82 other former salaried workers. The commission was to determine how the money would be distributed.

The case originally sought compensation for more than 1,600 employees allegedly forced to retire between 1978 and 1981, when Chrysler was near bankruptcy, said Tom Keenbaum, a Detroit attorney representing the ex-workers.