Boeing Agrees to Settle Bias Suit for $72.5 Million
Boeing Co. said Friday that it would pay up to $72.5 million to settle a discrimination suit filed by female workers at its Seattle-area plants.
In addition, the aerospace giant agreed to modify some employment and compensation practices to settle the class-action suit, which received preliminary agreement in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
Under terms of the settlement, up to 29,000 current and former female employees will receive a minimum of $500 each and could receive tens of thousands of dollars, according to the plaintiffs’ law firms.
Although the monetary portion of the agreement will apply only to Seattle-area workers, the changes in employment policies will affect the entire company.
“The changes to pay practice will considerably increase the accountability that managers will have in making pay raises,” Joseph Sellers, an attorney for the Washington, D.C., law firm that represented the former workers, told Bloomberg News.
Boeing spokesman Ken Mercer said the company decided to settle the case to avoid costly and lengthy litigation.
Chicago-based Boeing is the largest private employer in Southern California, with 36,000 workers at facilities from Seal Beach and Anaheim to Canoga Park and Palmdale.
Among the changes, Boeing’s annual performance review will be standardized and made mandatory for all employees.
“This agreement contains several enhancements related to performance evaluations, salary reviews, promotions and other employee relations practices,” said Laurette Koellner, Boeing’s executive vice president of internal services.
The settlement stems from a suit filed in 2000 by about two dozen Boeing workers in the Seattle area who claimed the company gave preference to men in handing out pay raises, promotions and overtime work.
The suit initially sought to include Boeing workers at plants in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. But in 2001, U.S. District Judge Marsha Perchman limited the case to women employed in Washington state.
A monetary settlement was reached in May, but both sides refused to reveal details while they spent the last two months negotiating other conditions of the pact.
According to Bloomberg News, the settlement is the eighth-largest class-action sex discrimination suit in U.S. history.
Separately, Boeing said it planned to add 2,000 to 3,000 jobs in the Seattle area by year’s end because of a pickup in commercial aircraft production. Boeing plans to deliver about 300 jetliners in 2005, up from 285 planes this year, and the company is taking orders for the 7E7 passenger jet it is developing.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a slump in travel prompted Boeing to slash more than 35,000 jobs, most of them in Washington state.
Shares of Boeing closed down 1 cent Friday at $49.13 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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Bloomberg News was used in compiling this report.
