Boeing Agrees to Pay $4.5 Million as Bias Settlement

Boeing Co. has agreed to pay $4.5 million to women and minorities to settle long-standing sex discrimination and equal pay issues at its facilities, including its Long Beach plant, the Labor Department said Friday.

The money will go for back pay and future wages for salaried and executive employees, agency officials said.

The deal also requires the company to review salary policies and change the way hiring and pay decisions are made, marking the first time that a private corporation has agreed to end gender and racial pay disparities identified by government auditors, Labor officials said.

Boeing, which two months ago settled a bias suit brought by black employees for $15 million, also agreed with the government to adjust pay policies over the next four years. It did not admit any wrongdoing.

Without the agreement between the company and the federal agency, the government could have canceled contracts with Boeing and barred it from future contracts. Last year, Boeing received $11 billion from federal work.

Under the settlement, Boeing will spend $2.6 million on back pay and $1.9 million in prospective pay adjustments. But the company must spend more if a review of its pay policies deems it necessary.

“This is the first agreement that obligates a federal contractor to conduct self-examinations, make across-the-board salary adjustments at every facility and then report its results to the department,” Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman said.

About 6,000 employees could get back pay out of the initial settlement fund.

The Labor Department investigations stemmed from separate pay inequity and failure-to-promote cases that arose in different facilities. In Long Beach, for instance, the case stemmed from complaints made in 1995 against McDonnell Douglas Corp., which Boeing acquired two years ago.

At the time of the purchase, a Times review of state records showed that sex discrimination complaints against McDonnell Douglas amounted to 41% of all such claims filed against the eight aerospace industry giants with operations in the state over a 5 1/2-year period. That figure was well above McDonnell’s 22% share of the groups’ California employees.

Management consultants at the time said the aerospace industry in general was notorious for discrimination and harassment against women and minorities.

Boeing’s settlement “is going to be a positive thing,” said Terry Hew, one of five current Boeing employees at Long Beach with complaints against the company pending at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“You talk about a landmark decision--nothing like this has ever happened for minorities and women at this company that I know of,” said Hew, 41, who has worked as a buyer for the company since 1987. “I’m pleased that Boeing has decided to take this as seriously as they have.”

But she and four others are still waiting to see what the implications are for them. Their attorney, Morris Baller of Oakland, said the agreement resolves only the federal agency’s complaints.

“It does not resolve our clients’ claims, which allege discrimination against women as a class at the Long Beach facility,” Baller said.

One former employee unimpressed with the settlement is Pat Felix, who sued McDonnell for alleged discrimination and lost. Her appeal is still pending.

“Boeing hasn’t changed at all,” said Felix, 42, who was laid off during cutbacks five years ago. “They are trying to put up a front, and that’s what irritates me. It’s a cover-up. They are thinking maybe this will make the problem go away.”

Under the settlement, the cash compensation would be available only to salaried and executive-level workers mostly in Long Beach, Philadelphia and Huntsville, Ala., though those in Seattle, Wichita, Kan., and Tulsa, Okla., also could qualify.