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St. Louis Front Page P.O. Box 1354 St. Louis, MO 63188 Voice: 314-771-0200 Fax: 314-771-0300 To submit news, contact: editor@slfp.com To advertise, contact: advertising@slfp.com  |
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 Missouri Women File Class-Action Sexual Discrimination Suit Against Boeing ST. LOUIS, MO (BUSINESSWIRE) January 16, 2002 - A group of Missouri Boeing employees have filed a sex-discrimination lawsuit, claiming the aerospace giant has denied women promotions, equal pay and other employment opportunities based solely on gender. Filed in Missouri U.S. District Court, the proposed class-action lawsuit was filed the same day as female Boeing employees filed similar suits in California and Wichita, Kan. If approved by the court, the class action will represent thousands of employees in Missouri, and tens of thousands across the country. Filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by attorney Steve Berman of the Seattle-based law firm Hagens Berman, the suit asks the court to grant an order immediately halting discriminatory actions, as well as back pay, compensatory damages and punitive damages. The suits follows a similar case certified as a class action in October, 2001, filed by a group of female Boeing employees in Washington's Puget Sound region. The court limited the class action to female Boeing employees working in the Puget Sound region, but left the door open for suits in other regions. In certifying the Puget Sound suit, the court found that "the data yields statistically significant results of adverse impacts on female employees in every facility and at every level." "We plan to use Boeing's own surveys to show that Boeing is aware of a deep-seated gender bias within its organization," said Berman. "What's worse, the company has done very little to challenge that bias although the evidence of its existence is well-documented." A Boeing employee in St. Louis for nearly 13 years, Terri Wertz received substantial pay raises to match her performance until she took pregnancy leave, according to the complaint. When Wertz returned, her raises became quite minimal; in January 2000, she finally received a five percent raise originally scheduled for August 1997, the complaint contends. The lawsuit claims this raise is still below the lowest published pay scale for her job. When Wertz received her latest raise, Boeing admitted that the raise could not correct 12 years of wrongs, but a proper increase would not fit into the budget, according to the suit. However, three men were promoted above Wertz that month, the suit claims. In addition to pay inequity, the complaint contends that women at Boeing are denied favorable job assignments and promotional opportunities, as well as undergoing verbal assaults from the predominately male workforce. In one external survey, more than 85 percent of women at Boeing facilities were paid less than comparably situated men. "A company can explain away slight statistical anomalies, but Boeing has a great deal more to answer for," Berman said. "The numbers don't lie - they point to a systemic, ongoing problem in virtually every major Boeing facility." According to the suit, Boeing has strongly worded anti-discrimination policies, but managers and supervisors leniently enforce these policies. The suit contends that, rather than punishing the perpetrator, Boeing anti-discrimination policies often punished women by assigning them to unskilled jobs with little chance for advancement.  EPA and HUD Announce Landmark Lead Disclosure Settlement WASHINGTON, D.C., (PRNewswire) January 16, 2002 - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have announced the broadest lead disclosure settlement ever with one of the nation's largest property management firms, the Denver-based Apartment Investment and Management Co. (AIMCO). Families living in more than 130,000 apartments in 47 states and Washington, D.C., will live in lead-safe units as a result of this landmark settlement. "Protecting our nation's children from the dangers of lead-based paint is of paramount concern. Eliminating lead-based paint hazards in older low-income housing is essential if childhood lead poisoning is to be eradicated," said EPA Administrator Christie Whitman. "AIMCO is to be commended for its voluntary disclosure and other efforts to make its housing lead-safe. We urge other landlords to take their cue from this responsible action." "This agreement goes a long way in making certain parents can raise their children in safe and healthy homes," said HUD Secretary Mel Martinez. "Not only are more than 130,000 apartments going to be certified lead safe, but today's settlement demonstrates the value of management companies and landlords working closely with HUD to prevent our kids from being poisoned." AIMCO allegedly failed to warn its tenants that their homes may contain lead-based paint hazards in violation of the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act. Under the settlement, AIMCO has agreed to test and clean up lead-based paint hazards in more than 130,000 apartments nationwide and pay a $129,580 penalty. The penalty and the number of units being tested and cleaned are the largest ever in a lead disclosure settlement. Because AIMCO voluntarily disclosed violations of the Residential Lead- Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act, the company was able to significantly reduce its penalty. At the same time, HUD and EPA are ensuring that AIMCO's properties will become free of lead-based paint hazards. Approximately three-quarters of the nation's housing stock built before 1978 (approximately 64 million dwellings) contains some lead-based paint. Of those, approximately 25 million housing units have lead-based paint hazards such as chipping and peeling paint and lead in dust, according to a recent HUD survey. When properly maintained and managed, lead-based paint poses little risk. However, nearly one million children have blood lead levels above safe limits, mostly due to exposure to lead-based paint hazards.  The Saint Louis Front Page is owned and maintained by the Moore Design Group for the sole purpose of disseminating news and information about the Metropolitan Saint Louis area. Text or graphics may not be copied, rewritten or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission. For more information, contact editor@slfp.com All rights reserved world wide © 1996 - 2008 Moore Design Group . |
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