Class Of Women To Receive $48.9 Million In EEOC-Verizon Pregnancy Bias Settlement

New York, N.Y. – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced that, pursuant to a court-filed consent decree, telecommunications giant Verizon Communications, Inc. will pay approximately $48.9 million to 12,326 current and former female employees in 13 states and the District of Columbia as part of a 2002 settlement of a landmark class action lawsuit alleging pregnancy discrimination against Verizon predecessor telephone companies NYNEX and Bell Atlantic.

EEOC and New York-based Verizon jointly submitted a final report today to U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin informing him that the claims process was completed in December 2004 and the total compensation paid to date under the settlement is more than $25.3 million. EEOC submitted a separate letter informing the court that it projected that an additional $23.6 million would be paid in future pension benefits. The size of the class and estimated value of monetary benefits make this the largest EEOC settlement of its kind involving pregnancy-related service credit adjustments. EEOC litigated the cases along with two unions representing the non-managerial employees, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The consent decree resolved employment discrimination lawsuits filed by the EEOC’s New York District Office in 1997 and 1999 against Bell Atlantic and NYNEX (now Verizon), and their predecessor companies and related subsidiaries. The suits alleged that the companies violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991, by denying female employees service credit related to pregnancy and maternity leaves of absence taken between July 2, 1965 and April 28, 1979, and care for newborn children leaves of absence taken between July 2, 1965 and December 31, 1983.

“As retirement benefits become increasingly important to today's workers, it is critical to fight back when discrimination occurs,” said EEOC’s New York District Director Spencer H. Lewis, Jr. “Employers should be aware that pregnancy discrimination in regard to benefits is just not acceptable – to workers and to the EEOC.” Read more at eeoc.gov