A federal judge has approved a $57 million settlement in a four-year-old age discrimination class action suit against Sprint United Management Co. (now Sprint Nextel Corp.). The suit accused Sprint/Nextel of targeting people over 40 for layoff during a reduction in force,

Lead plaintiff Shirley Williams filed the suit in April 2003, alleging Sprint/Nextel continually discriminated against her based on her age until her position was eliminated in March 2002. Williams alleged that after her termination, younger employees were given her job duties. Sprint denied these allegations. AARP attorneys acted as co-counsel for the plaintiffs.

Since the suit was filed, according to Judge John W. Lungstrom of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, “Several hundred depositions were taken or defended, more than 1 million pages of documents were exchanged, and large databases of employment-related information were produced.”

Benefiting from the settlement, which has been pending approval since May, are 1,697 class members who will receive between $4,226 and $35,738, depending on their company position before termination. As part of the agreement, the settlement will not affect pension or retirement benefits some class members receive.

In his order approving the settlement, Lungstrom wrote, “There has been no evidence provided to the Court that suggests that the settlement is anything other than the result of arm's length negotiations between the parties after extensive litigation.”