Boeing OKs Government Access to Records

Boeing Co. agreed to give the Labor Department access to its facilities and records at sites in Seattle and Mesa, Ariz., to settle complaints that it interfered with compliance reviews and investigations into claims of discrimination, the department said. “In the interest of preserving our ongoing relationship with the agency, we agreed to settle,” said Larry McCracken, a spokesman for the nation’s second-largest defense contractor. An administrative law judge in Washington, D.C., approved the settlement, which will allow the Labor Department access to Boeing’s commercial aircraft plant in Seattle and its training site in Arizona. The department’s complaints arose from Boeing’s refusal to allow the government access to property and records at those sites and its commercial aircraft and military space and defense plants in Wichita, Kan. The Kansas complaint will be heard next month. In the Seattle case, the department is looking into a class-action complaint of racial discrimination filed by an employee there. In order to do business with the government, companies must maintain and disclose records on compliance with certain equal-opportunity employment laws. Boeing’s shares closed up 38 cents at $46.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.