P.M. BRIEFING : Pan Am Settles Overweight Suit

Pan American World Airways has agreed to pay $2.35 million to settle a lawsuit by 116 flight attendants claiming the carrier’s weight policy discriminated against them.

The class-action suit, which was filed five years ago in San Francisco by the Independent Union of Flight Attendants, said the Pan Am attendants were fired, forced to resign or denied promotions because the airline decided they were overweight.

In 1987, a federal judge in the Northern District of California ruled in favor of the flight attendants and ordered Pan Am to change its policy that sets limits on how much flight attendants could weigh. Pan Am had appealed that decision.

Under the settlement announced Thursday, Pan Am agreed to withdraw its appeal without admitting any wrongdoing and establish a more liberal weight policy.