Women prevail in Smith Barney suit

A federal judge has approved Citigroup Inc.'s $33 million class action settlement with female brokers in its Smith Barney brokerage division. Judge Phyllis Hamilton of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco approved the settlement at a hearing Wednesday; she granted preliminary approval in April (InvestmentNews, April 4) . The class action, filed in 2005, involves 1,285 female brokers who accused Smith Barney of passing over women when assigning large accounts, promotions and raises, and of depriving women of the same training and sales support that their male counterparts receive. "This settlement not only provides serious monetary benefits for all class members, but also real, institutional improvements for female brokers at the company," Kelly M. Dermody, a partner and co-lead class counsel at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP of San Francisco, said in a statement. Under the terms of the settlement, New York-based Citigroup will change its account distribution policies for partnership arrangements, branch manager promotions, retention and diversity training. Additionally, the settlement calls for the appointment of an independent diversity monitor and an industrial psychologist. "We're pleased to have this matter resolved," said Alexander I. Samuelson, a spokesman for Smith Barney.