SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co. (BA.N) will pay at least $4.5 million to settle claims from female and minority employees that they were paid less than white male co-workers and will take steps to end such disparities, the aerospace giant and the U.S. Labor Department said on Friday.
Boeing and the Labor Department will set up a forum to air future pay grievances and track the progress of women and minorities in hiring and promotions and the impact on those workers of large company layoffs.
In return, the Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs will close 10 probes of alleged pay discrimination by salaried and executive female and minority workers at Boeing locations around the country.
With the $4.5 million fund, Boeing will remedy any pay disparities at its facilities in Philadelphia, Huntsville, Ala., Wichita, Kan., Tulsa, Okla., Long Beach, Calif., and Seattle, the company said.
Boeing has also agreed to examine company-wide pay practices and correct any discrimination within the next four years. The cost of those adjustments will be in addition to the $4.5 million fund.
"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 Herman said in a statement.
Boeing Chief Executive Officer Phil Condit said the agreement would help the company make good on its commitment to workplace fairness.
"This agreement is part of our efforts to resolve outstanding matters from the companies that now comprise Boeing. We want to ensure that the new Boeing promotes inclusion and diversity and that all of our employees are treated fairly and respectfully in the workplace,'' Condit said.
The deal comes less than two months after Boeing agreed to pay $14.2 million to settle a class action race discrimination lawsuit brought by 3,600 black employees.
The nation's second-largest federal contractor with $11 billion in government contracts in 1998, Boeing has been slashing its payroll in the face of dwindling commercial jet orders.
The company now employs about 202,000, down from a peak of 238,600 in 1998, and plans to trim about 20,000 more jobs by the end of 2000.
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