Ford will guarantee black employees access to an apprenticeship training programme under the settlement of a civil rights complaint approved by a federal judge, according to the Associated Press (AP).
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US District Court Judge S Arthur Spiegel granted preliminary approval to the class action settlement in February. He held a fairness hearing June 1 and formalised the deal with the automaker in an order issued on Wednesday, AP said.
The lawsuit began with complaints in 1998 by employees at Ford plants in suburban Sharonville and Batavia, east of Cincinnati which alleged discrimination against black employees who took an application test for the apprenticeship training programme on or after January 1, 1997, and were not chosen.
The programme allows unskilled laborers to learn skills for higher paying jobs, such as electrician or millwright, that can result in better job security and improved opportunities for promotion, plaintiffs said, according to the report.
AP said Ford, which denied any liability or discrimination, supported the settlement and agreed to set aside 279 positions in the programme for blacks and to pay $US2,400 each to about 3,400 current and former Ford workers.
Spiegel reportedly noted in his ruling that the settlement benefited the public interest, Ford workers and the company by heading off lengthy and expensive litigation – it creates a new selection programme to be monitored by an industrial psychologist with expertise in workplace and personnel issues.
