2004-7-22
This is Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English Economics
Report.
Recently we told you about the accusations of unequal pay and
treatment of female employees at Wal-Mart stores. That case is still
early in the legal process, and the company is fighting it. But last
week there were settlements in two other sex-discrimination cases.
One involves the aircraft maker Boeing. The other involves the
financial services company Morgan Stanley. Settlements avoid a
trial.
Morgan Stanley reached a fifty-four-million dollar settlement
with a federal agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The two sides completed negotiations just before a jury in New York
City was to hear evidence.
The commission made its case on the experience of a former
employee in the Morgan Stanley investment bank. Allison Schieffelin
lost her job in two-thousand. She will receive twelve million
dollars from the settlement.
Forty million dollars is to go to pay other claims. This money
could be divided among as many as three-hundred-forty women. Morgan
Stanley also agreed to spend two million dollars for programs to
support job development for women.
But Morgan Stanley denied the accusations. The company says it
has "at all times treated its women employees fairly and equitably."
Boeing could pay as much as seventy-three million dollars in a
settlement approved by a federal judge in Seattle. Lawyers
negotiated the deal for as many as twenty-nine-thousand women who
are current or former employees.
Boeing avoided a trial in May when it announced an agreement in a
class action lawsuit. Details were secret until last week. Final
court approval is still needed.
Boeing has denied wrongdoing. But it agreed to change its rules,
to make sure women get equal pay and the same chance at higher
paying jobs as men. Many women also reported cases of insulting
treatment by male workers and supervisors.
Finally, we told you about the legal troubles for Martha Stewart,
the businesswoman famous for home design advice. She was found
guilty in March of lying about the sale of a personal stock
investment. Last week a judge sentenced her to five months in jail.
But he suspended that while she appeals.
Share prices in her company increased on the news that she got
the shortest possible sentence. Her financial advisor received the
same sentence.
This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario
Ritter. This is Bob Doughty.