DETROIT, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- When William Clay Ford Jr. succeeded Jacques Nasser as chief executive officer at Ford Motor Co. at the end of October, he said he was personally upset that mid-level managers and employees had filed suits accusing his great-grandfather's company of age and race discrimination.
Ford is expected to settle the lawsuits this week.
Two class-action suits filed in U.S. District Court in February charged Ford's management performance review system was rigged to favor younger and minority employees over older white male managers.
The Detroit Free Press Tuesday said final approval was expected Thursday on a $10.5 million settlement with current and former managers who said they were victimized by a performance review program intended to weed them out. Under the 2-year-old job evaluation plan, later revised by Nasser, all 18,000 managers were rated best-to-worst by supervisors with 10 percent getting "A" grades, 80 percent, "B" grades and 10 percent, "C" grades.
Managers rated "C" did not receive raises, promotions or bonuses and two "C" grades in a row could lead to demotion or dismissal.
The controversial system replaced Ford's paternalist evaluation policy that rewarded middle managers almost automatically with bonuses and promotions for completing assignments.
Under terms of a settlement reached last month, each of about 580 current and former employees would get $5,000 to $10,000. Managers who were not part of the suits would receive $5,000 or $14,000 depending on whether they accepted a buyout offer, the Free Press said.
Eight workers who sued Ford would get $100,000 each, 44 others $62,500 and 53 would get between $10,000 and $50,000.
Ford, which denies any discrimination, is cutting its salaried work force by 5,000 jobs to save money and return to profitability next year. A Wayne County judge refused to order court supervision of the management buyouts in September.
The Detroit News said Ford would pay more than $100,000 on Wednesday to settle a racial harassment complaint at the New Model Product Development Center.
An African-American woman complained to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Ford failed to discipline a white male co-worker who told a black employee "it was a good day for a lynching."
Braided nooses allegedly were hung in the Allen Park plant.
A Ford spokeswoman said the automaker had agreed in principle to settle the case.
In addition to a cash settlement, Ford would agree to post new harassment policies, implement tougher disciplinary procedures for workplace harassment, expand diversity training for employees and reprimand supervisors who ignore complaints of harassment, the News said.
Bill Ford, the grand-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, is the first family member to head the world's second-largest automaker since his late uncle, Henry Ford II, resigned in 1979.
