EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION: Boeing to Settle Gender Discrimination Lawsuits by Paying $380,000

February 1, 2010

Chicago - Aircraft maker Boeing Company has expressed willingness to pay $380,000 to settle gender discrimination lawsuits filed by three female engineers who claimed that the company “has allowed their male coworkers to harass them.”

In a statement, Boeing officials said they have decided to settle the two cases filed in 2003 and 2005 “because it will be for the best interest of the company.”

The company has also denied the allegations made by its three former employees, saying that two District Court Judges had previously dismissed the case for lack of “sufficient facts”.

However, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered a trial for the discrimination lawsuits.

In 2003, Kelley Miles, a mechanics in Boeing’s Mesa plant, had filed a complaint before the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) claiming that the company “did not take the appropriate steps” in stopping other male workers from harassing her, “even if the some of the incidents were sexual in nature.”

In 2005, Renee Wrede and Antonia Castron, two engineers from Boeing’s plant in East Mesa, had also filed discrimination lawsuit before EEOC and accused the company of allowing discriminatory practices and harassment in its workplace.

Castron said she was transferred to another department which did not fit her skills after reporting to her managers that she was receiving sexist remarks from other male workers.

After two months of being transferred, Castron said she was laid off based on the reason of “not performing well.”

Wrede joined Castron in filing a lawsuit, claiming that she was also laid off after reporting to the company that other male employees were harassing her.