Smith Barney Bias Accord OK'd

A federal judge on Friday approved a revised settlement of sexual discrimination claims against Smith Barney, resolving a lawsuit that alleged lurid pranks were commonplace at a Long Island office.

U.S. District Judge Constance B. Motley approved the settlement that covers an estimated 20,000 current and former employees of Smith Barney one day after she had expressed skepticism about the agreement.

Motley unexpectedly rejected the initial agreement a month ago, criticizing the vagueness of a plan to spend $15 million on diversity programs and questioning whether the money was enough.

But Smith Barney and lawyers for the plaintiffs made changes that apparently satisfied her.

The agreement calls for the company to use private mediation instead of industry arbitration, which has been the way past discrimination and harassment complaints have been handled.

It also requires the company to pay lawyers' fees for the plaintiffs and to spend $15 million on diversity training.

No one would receive any money immediately as a result of the settlement, but they would have the option of going before the private mediator.

The case attracted notoriety because it grew out of allegations including the use by men of a basement "boom-boom room" at a Long Island branch office where a toilet bowl hung from the ceiling and men went to drink Bloody Marys from an oversize garbage can.

Officials at Smith Barney, a unit of Travelers Group Inc., had disputed allegations that there was a widespread pattern of discrimination against women at the firm.

Roberta Thomann, a former sales assistant for Smith Barney in Garden City, called the settlement "fair and adequate."

"A lot of my friends that still work there are so excited," she said.