News Article

Lawsuit Claims Smith Barney Discriminates

The Associated Press/SAN FRANCISCO - By JUSTIN M. NORTON, Associated Press Writer

Published: March 31, 2005

Four female financial consultants sued Citigroup Inc.'s Smith Barney division on Thursday, accusing the brokerage firm of systematically denying equal opportunities to its women employees. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, seeks class action status and asks for an end to gender discrimination at the firm, back pay and related damages. No dollar amount was specified, but attorney Kelly Dermody said the "potential damages are significant" because up to 5,000 women could qualify for the class action. In particular, the women charged that Smith Barney distributes accounts and business opportunities disproportionately to men regardless of qualifications. The suit also claims that women brokers are rarely allowed to partner with other brokers, thus depriving them of a channel for lucrative new business.

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The lawsuit puts the spotlight back on a firm that has tried to rebuild its image after settling a damaging gender-discrimination case several years ago. Smith Barney was the subject of a widely publicized 1996 lawsuit involving hundreds of female workers. The case, which the firm agreed to settle in 1998, included lurid stories of the "boom-boom room," a basement party space at a Smith Barney office on New York's Long Island that became a haven for male workers' lewd behavior.

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Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case filed Thursday said their clients are trying to change the culture of Wall Street. While "boom boom" rooms may have gone out of style, women still suffer quiet discrimination, the attorneys said. "This isn't an isolated experience ... professional women are routinely paid less and denied promotions," attorney Adam T. Klein said.

The case is Fassbender Amochaev v. Citigroup Global Markets Inc., dba Smith Barney.