The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, July 29, 1980-Page 9
PRUDENTIAL GETS AXE FOR NON-COMPLIANCE
Gov't cancels piece of the rock
From APand UPI
WASHINGTON-The Labor Department ordered
the cancellation yesterday of more than $180 million
in government business with Prudential Insurance
Co. of America, saying the company was impeding a
federal review of possible job discrimination prac-
tices.
Prudential, the nation's largest insurance com-
pany, is the biggest federal contractor to be
prohibited from government business under an
executive order that bars contractors from em-
ploymeht discrimination.
THE COMPANY, HEADQUARTERED in Newark,
N.J., denied it had done anything wrcmg and said it
would go to court this week to block the government
from cutting off its business.
Prudential, with total annual premiums of $8.5
billion and 67,000 employees nationwide, is one of the
largest insurers of federal civilian and military per-
sonnel. Among its services, the company provides
life insurance for 3.5 million people in the military
and health insurance for some 200,000 government
employees, processes Medicaid claims and provides
Medicare in three states.
Assistant Labor Secretary Donald Elisburg said
the government would not terminate any Prudential
policies until substitute insurance coverage is found
for affected employees.
ELISBURG SAID THE contract ban also prohibits
Prudential from providing insurance coverage for
employees at another private firm if they are not in-
volved in federal contract work.
The department's move against Prudential does
not involve any formal charges or suspicion of
discrimination. Rathere, the department said its ac-
tion resulted from the company's refusal to provide
information about its employment practices except
under conditions the department considered unac-
ceptable. Without the information, the department
said, federal investigators cannot determine if the
company is complying with federal requirements
against job discrimination.
At the heart of the dispute, according to Elisburg, is
a government demand that Prudential turn over all
computer tapes containing detailed information on
employee and applicant history and payroll records.
PRUDENTIAL EXECUTIVE VICE president
Robert Winters said the company believes the gover-
nment's demand for computer tape "exceeds its
authority to obtain information under the executive
order" against workplace discrimination.
"Furthermore, the release of confidential em-
ployee records would constitute an invasion of
privacy of its 67,000 employees," said Winters.
He said the company offered to provide a printout
of the tape, but the department refused it because in
that form, the information would be too costly to
analyze, might contain errors and lack certain
critical data.
He said Prudential also refused to provide infor-
mation prior to 1976 and wanted the right to see how
the government was analyzing the other material, a
demand he said was like having Prudential "looking
over our shoulder."
Elisburg said the company would be barred from
federal contract work until it furnishes the requested
materials.
Winters said the company planned to ask a federal
judge in Newark to block the government's order,
from going into effect until the dispute is resolved in
the courts.
Shah's
fruneral
to draw
few heads
o state
('on t i nue d from Page 1)
Sunday night. The official U.S. state-
ment on the ousted monarch's death
was devoid of any mention of the
longtime alliance between Washington
and the shah's regime.
The 60-year-old Pahlavi, who ruled
Iran for four decades, died Sunday
morning in a military hospital outside
Cairo after a six-year battle against
cancer, 18 months after he fled into
exile as the anti-shah revolution in his
homeland neared victory.
THE 10-MAN TEAM of doctors who
treated Pahlavi issued a statement
saying he died of a "shock to the cir-
culatory system" brought on by com-
plications from cancer.
Doctors said Sunday an abscess on
his pancreas had hemorrhaged and put
him into shock, and the accumulting
blood hampered his breathaing. The
abscess was a complication of anti-can-
cer drug treatment that lowered his
resistance to infection, and possibly a
side effect of surgery four months ago
to remove his cancerous spleen.
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat,
whose peace with Israel has caused him
to be ostracized by most of the Arb
world, will lead the state funeral
procession, which will be televised in
Egypt. Nixon and former King Con-
stantine XII, the Greek monarch
deposed in 1973, are expected to be the
only major foreign dignitaries present.
NIXON PUBLICLY complimented
the Egyptian president for giving
refuge to the shah, who came to Egypt
from Panama in March to die a slow
death in a military hospital overlooking
the Nile.
"I think that President Sadat, in
providing haven for the shah in his last
r days at a time when the United States
turned its back on one of its friends, is
an inspiration to us all," Nixon said.
PRIME RIB.
A
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Generous cut of tender juicy Prime Rib
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Crisp, garden fresh salad
Your choice of
steaming hot baked potato,
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Fresh bread and butter
At a time when most things are going up, we're doing some-
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EflhTAIN
3se South Maple
Ann Arbor, 665-1133
Valid through
September 11, 1980.
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Don't leave home without it.s