Aircraft components manufacturer Rolls-Royce has agreed to pay $135,000 to 26 women who were not selected for machine operating roles at the its factory in Virginia.
Under the federal settlement, the company will give back pay plus interest to women who applied to its manufacturing facility in Prince George, and also provide jobs to four of the women, the US Department of Labour's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programmes announced on Tuesday.
The federal agency said a "compliance evaluation" showed that the federal contractor discriminated against the female applicants, who had applied for the roles in 2017.
The company has denied wrongdoing. They said in a statement Wednesday that "no confirmed findings were assessed," and that they are "fully compliant under the law." "We are eager to begin the important work of strengthening our hiring practices," the company said, adding that the allegations raised in the agency's review "were specific to one job classification at one facility, and relate to hiring in 2017 only," the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
British-based Rolls-Royce has its North American headquarters in Reston, Virginia. They announced in August that they will close the Prince George County factory by the middle of next year due to a decline in global travel during the coronavirus pandemic.
About 280 jobs will be lost when the factory closes.
