This is Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English EconomicsReport.

Recently we told you about the accusations of unequal pay andtreatment of female employees at Wal-Mart stores. That case is stillearly in the legal process, and the company is fighting it. But lastweek there were settlements in two other sex-discrimination cases.

One involves the aircraft maker Boeing. The other involves thefinancial services company Morgan Stanley. Settlements avoid atrial.

Morgan Stanley reached a fifty-four-million dollar settlementwith a federal agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.The two sides completed negotiations just before a jury in New YorkCity was to hear evidence.

The commission made its case on the experience of a formeremployee in the Morgan Stanley investment bank. Allison Schieffelinlost her job in two-thousand. She will receive twelve milliondollars from the settlement.

Forty million dollars is to go to pay other claims. This moneycould be divided among as many as three-hundred-forty women. MorganStanley also agreed to spend two million dollars for programs tosupport job development for women.

But Morgan Stanley denied the accusations. The company says ithas "at all times treated its women employees fairly and equitably."

Boeing could pay as much as seventy-three million dollars in asettlement approved by a federal judge in Seattle. Lawyersnegotiated the deal for as many as twenty-nine-thousand women whoare current or former employees.

Boeing avoided a trial in May when it announced an agreement in aclass action lawsuit. Details were secret until last week. Finalcourt approval is still needed.

Boeing has denied wrongdoing. But it agreed to change its rules,to make sure women get equal pay and the same chance at higherpaying jobs as men. Many women also reported cases of insultingtreatment by male workers and supervisors.

Finally, we told you about the legal troubles for Martha Stewart,the businesswoman famous for home design advice. She was foundguilty in March of lying about the sale of a personal stockinvestment. Last week a judge sentenced her to five months in jail.But he suspended that while she appeals.

Share prices in her company increased on the news that she gotthe shortest possible sentence. Her financial advisor received thesame sentence.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by MarioRitter. This is Bob Doughty.