Getting your player ready...
New York – Verizon Communications Inc. will pay almost $49 million to 12,326 current and former female employees as part of a class-action lawsuit alleging pregnancy discrimination.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reached a settlement in 2002 against Verizon predecessors Nynex and Bell Atlantic, accused of denying women pension and other benefit accruals when they took pregnancy or maternity leave.
The total amount was not made public until Monday, when the EEOC completed its projections of how much would be paid in future benefits. It is the largest pregnancy-discrimination settlement in EEOC history.
