ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, November 22, 1996              TAG: 9611220067
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO 

IN BUSINESS

$13 million settles age-bias lawsuit

DENVER - A $13 million settlement Thursday ended one of the nation's biggest age-bias lawsuits, affecting 2,000 former employees of Martin Marietta Corp. forced out in a series of job cutbacks.

The settlement calls for the rehiring of 450 former employees who were targets of age discrimination at Martin Marietta, now part of Lockheed Martin Corp., the leading U.S. defense contractor. U.S. District Judge Wiley Daniel gave preliminary approval to the settlement, negotiated with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The EEOC lawsuit, filed in May 1994, claimed Martin targeted employees age 40 and over for a series of major layoffs and forced retirements from 1990 through 1995.

-Associated Press

Briefly

* IBM Corp. plans to unveil next week a more powerful mainframe computer that will allow businesses to process more information for a lot less money than existing older models, industry sources said.

* Laboratory Corporation of America, the world's largest clinical laboratory company, agreed to pay a $5 million fine and repay $182 million it billed Medicare for unnecessary tests. The settlement announced Thursday was the result of a two-year investigation into billings to Medicare and other federal health programs.

* For the first time in 50 years, Japanese financial regulators have ordered a commercial bank to close permanently, saying it was on the verge of collapsing under a heap of bad debt. Some analysts praised the closing of Hanwa Bank as a sign that Japan is taking a more aggressive approach toward cleaning up the massive bad loan problem dogging its banking system.

* American Airlines has signed Boeing to be its sole supplier of up to 630 jets to refurbish its fleet over the next 20 years. The unprecedented agreement, announced by both companies Thursday, is aimed at smoothing out the boom-and-bust cycles that plague airlines and aircraft makers.

* The Securities and Exchange Commission has sued Montedison S.p.a. for fraud, accusing the Italian chemical and energy concern of concealing $398 million in losses and bribing Italian politicians. The Milan-based company, which has securities traded on the New York Stock Exchange, faces millions of dollars in potential civil fines from the suit, which was filed Thursday.

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