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Benefits February 13, 2004
United To Pay $36 Million In Discrimination Suit
February 13, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com)-United Airlines
must pay $36.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought over the
airline's now obsolete weight policy.
Reported by Alison Cooke
The sex-discrimination lawsuit was filed in 1992 by 13 former flight attendants who had all been disciplined or fired by United for violating the weight policy.
When United filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002, the original settlement was suspended, but was reinstated on Wednesday.
The airline’s weight policy for flight attendants was in place from 1980 to 1994, and had been found discriminatory towards women by an appeals court in 2000. The policy applied limits to both male and female flight attendants, but was stricter towards women.