EEOC AND GENERAL DYNAMICS CORPORATION SETTLE AGE DISCRIMINATION CLASS ACTION SUIT FOR $2.5 MILLION

ST. LOUIS, MO - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and General Dynamics Corporation today filed a settlement agreement in federal district court resolving an age discrimination suit for $2.5 million for 31 former employees.

The lawsuit arises out of a l992 layoff that occured soon after General Dyamics moved its corporate headquarters from St. Louis to Falls Church, Virginia. In May l991, about 110 employees were relocated to Falls Church, but shortly thereafter the company cut its headquarters staff and laid off a number of the relocated employees.

In connection with the layoff, General Dynamics instituted a Corporate Headquarters Retention and Outplacement Program that provided various benefits, including up to five additional years of credited service under the company's pension plan. Laid-off employees under the age of 50 received the full five years of credited service. Employees between the ages of 50 and 55 received less credited service and employees over the age of 55 received no additional credited service under the program.

Two former employees, Norman Goldman and Richard Smith, filed age discrimination charges with the St. Louis District Office of the EEOC. Subsequently, they filed a private lawsuit against General Dynamics Corporation. That suit is also being settled.

The EEOC's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis, alleges that General Dynamics' failure to give employees over the age of 50 a full five years of additional credited service constitutes age discrimination. The EEOC and General Dynamics have agreed to settle the government's suit for payments to be made to 31 former employees totalling $2,532,294.59. The settlement agreement also provides that the company will revise its Corporate Headquarters Retention and Outplacement Program to give all eligible employees a full five years of credited service under the pension plan, regardless of age.

The EEOC enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; the Equal Pay Act; prohibitions against discrimination affecting individuals with disabilities in the federal sector; sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, and Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in the private sector and state and local governments.