Business Notes Labor

Employers beware: discrimination against pregnant workers can be costly. AT&T agreed last week to pay $66 million in the largest settlement ever of a lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The money will compensate 13,000 current and former AT&T employees for job discrimination against pregnant women from 1965 to 1978. The company forced the women to take unpaid maternity leaves, awarded those employees less seniority than others on disability and gave them no guarantee that they could return to their jobs or equivalent positions. "A suit of this magnitude will have tremendous ripple effects," predicts Patricia Ireland, executive vice president of the National Organization for Women. "Every CEO who reads these headlines will pay attention."