US judge orders Boeing, DOJ to provide information on diversity policy before ruling on request by Reuters.
By David Shepardson and Mike Spector
(Reuters) – A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Boeing (NYSE: ) and the U.S. Justice Department to provide information on the impact of diversity and inclusion policies on the selection of a private watchdog before deciding whether to accept the flight attendant's request.
US District Judge Reed O'Connor presided over the case on Friday as he considered whether to approve Boeing's plea deal to conspiring to defraud regulators. The agreement will include three years of supervision by an independent monitor.
The order is the latest hurdle Boeing faces to avoid a potentially embarrassing trial and plead guilty to misleading the Federal Aviation Administration and violating a plea deal that was postponed until 2021.
O'Connor on Tuesday told the DOJ and Boeing to respond to questions on Oct. 25 regarding the DOJ's custodian selection policy consistent with the government's commitment to diversity and inclusion.
A DOJ spokesperson said the government “will comply with the judge's order and respond before the court's deadline.” Boeing did not immediately comment.
While he ordered the DOJ and Boeing to respond to a series of questions about the diversity and inclusion policy and how it might affect the selection of an independent auditor, he also pointed out that it was not a controversial part of the plea agreement.
“The important thing is that Boeing did not express any opposition to this provision,” the judge said in his order.
O'Connor also wants the airline to explain in detail how its existing diversity, equity and inclusion policies “are applied to its current compliance and ethics efforts.”
The plane maker agreed to pay up to $487.2 million in fines and spend at least $455 million on safety and compliance improvements during three years of court-supervised probation as part of the plea deal.
O'Connor on Friday pressed the Justice Department to explain the terms of Boeing's plea deal after two deadly 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019 that killed 346 people.
Lawyers for Boeing and the DOJ argued that Judge O'Connor should accept the plea deal, while lawyers for the victims' relatives urged him to reject it. Boeing agreed in July to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud regulators.
