Costco Settles Gender Discrimination Lawsuit for $8M

Costco Wholesale has tentatively agreed to pay $8 million and change its promotion procedures to settle a long-running lawsuit that alleges it failed to give female employees an equal shot at management jobs. In the proposed settlement, the Issaquah, Wash.-based retailer agreed to establish an $8 million fund to compensate women in the lawsuit, which received class-action status in 2007. It also will overhaul its promotion procedures and tools. The company will also create a posting process for assistant general manager promotions, and a system to register interest in promotions to general manager roles.