
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 15, 1990                   TAG: 9003152358
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

USAIR SETTLES DISCRIMINATION CASE

In a victory for immigrants who lack permanent residency visas, the Justice Department on Wednesday announced a settlement with USAir over a discrimination charge filed by a would-be flight attendant who didn't have a "green card."

USAir had refused to interview Monique L. Stennett, a Jamaican citizen, for a flight attendant job because she didn't yet have a green card, an alien registration card allowing a person to work in the United States, even though her passport contained a stamp from the Immigration and Naturalization Service showing she had been granted permanent residence, the department said.

The Arlington, Va.-based carrier, which has about 52,000 employees, denied that its practices or involvement with Stennett violated the Immigration Reform and Control Act, enacted in November 1986.

However, under the agreement reached with the Justice Department, USAir agreed to compensate Stennett for the lost opportunity to interview, to revise its corporate policy manual and its employment application, which asked whether the applicant is a U.S. citizen, and to educate employees regarding the requirements of the act, the department said.

Stennett, who now lives in Florida and who has found other employment, was no longer interested in an interview with USAir. She did receive a $1,000 payment from the airline, said Andrew M. Strojny, acting special counsel for immigration-related unfair employment practices.

by CNB