Past Cases

Beck, et al. v. Boeing

Status Past Case

Practice area Civil Rights & Employment

Court U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

Case number 2:00-cv-00301

Overview

Cohen Milstein represented a group of about 29,000 female employees who had claims of sex discrimination against The Boeing Company, Inc. The certified claims address discrimination in compensation for salaried employees, access to overtime work for hourly IAM employees, and promotions for both. In granting class certification, the court noted that “the data yields statistically significant results of adverse impact on female employees in every facility and at every level within the Puget sound area.”

The parties reached an agreement just before trial in this matter. Under the terms of the settlement, Boeing agreed to pay between $40.6 million and $72.5 million, which will be divided among named plaintiffs, other members of the class, class attorneys and administrative expenses. The settlement calls on Boeing to change the way it determines starting salaries, modify its performance evaluation systems, and monitor salaries to reduce the risk of gender wage discrimination reappearing.