WASHINGTON (April 11, 2005) — Bridgestone/Firestone has voluntarily settled a lawsuit with the Justice Department and an Army National Guardsman who works for the tire maker at its LaVergne, Tenn., facility.
The unnamed Guardsman, who was on active duty from December 2002 to March 2004, sought the advance on the company's progressive pay scale he said he deserved, rather than being brought back at the same wage he was paid before he left.
The Justice Department took up the Guardsman's cause under claims that the tire maker violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-Employment Act of 1994.
BFS is paying the guardsman about $6,000 in back wages and also changing its policy affecting about six other National Guardsmen who work for the company, a BFS spokesman said.