Smith Barney has agreed to pay $33 million to settle claims by three Northern California women that the brokerage giant favored men in pay, promotions and client assignments.U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton of San Francisco approved the agreement Wednesday following lengthy negotiations between the Citigroup subsidiary and lawyers for the female brokers.
The nationwide settlement provides for payments to more than 2,400 current and past employees.
The three original Santa Rosa plaintiffs : Renee Fassbender-Amochaev, Deborah Orlando and Kathryn Varner : are slated to get $50,000 bonuses.
The suit alleged that male branch managers assigned most new clients to male brokers, who earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions.
