USAIR TO PAY $300,000 FOR PREDECESSOR'S ALLEGED AGE BIAS IN PILOT HIRING

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today that USAir, Inc. has agreed to settle a lawsuit charging Piedmont Aviation with violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The proposed settlement provides a total of $300,000 in damages and 32 pilot positions for eligible claimants.

The settlement resolves an EEOC lawsuit filed against Piedmont Aviation and USAir, as Piedmont's successor, on January 18, 1991, in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, N.C. The suit alleges that Piedmont discriminated against applicants age 40 or older for pilot positions based on their age, prior to its merger with USAir in 1989. The lawsuit covers the period from about June 1986 through 1987.

Twenty-nine applicants who were allegedly denied pilot positions because of age will share $300,000 in damages as part of the settlement terms. The settlement also provides for hiring 32 eligible claimants for pilot positions, subject to their meeting all USAir hiring requirements. Twelve hires will also receive starting pay at the rate of fourth-year pilots and payments in the event of furlough during their first three years of employment.

The date for hiring eligible claimants can not now be determined, but will follow reinstatement of USAir pilots currently on furlough. If 12 claimants are not hired before December 31, 1996, each claimant up to 12 hired thereafter during the six-year term of the settlement will receive an additional payment.

The Air Line Pilots Association, International, the union representing USAir's pilots, is also a party to the settlement. The settlement is subject to the court's final approval after a fairness hearing.

In addition to enforcing the ADEA, the EEOC enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin; the Equal Pay Act of 1963; sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1991; Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in the private sector and state and local governments; and prohibitions against discrimination affecting individuals with disabilities in the federal government.