Continental Airlines Discrimination Suit Settled

An age-discrimination lawsuit by 207 Continental Airlines employees against the air carrier has been settled for between $7 million and $8 million, lawyers for the employees said Wednesday.

The class-action suit alleged that Continental unlawfully discriminated against its oldest and most senior airport workers when it replaced its own employees with younger, lower-paid new hires for America West Airlines.

The two airlines entered into an agreement in August 1994 to share some ground-handling functions at airports. That had the effect of replacing senior employees at Continental with new hires of America West, said J. Richard Creatura, a lawyer for the law firm that represented the plaintiffs.

Creatura said the 207 workers included 73 from the Seattle-Tacoma area and 134 from 12 other cities in the West. He said the employees were told their existing jobs were being taken over by America West, and they had the choice of either applying with America West to continue servicing the same Continental flights, at half their previous pay, or moving to another city to continue their employment and seniority with Continental.

U.S. District Judge William Dwyer approved the settlement procedure on Monday, and will conduct a hearing on whether to approve the settlement itself on Oct. 31. The agreement calls for Continental to pay a total of $6 million, plus another $1 million to $2 million in flight benefits, Creatura said.

Continental spokeswoman Catherine Stengel said the airline could not comment on the settlement.