Smith Barney Sex Discrimination Lawsuit
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• August 13, 2008: Court Grants Final Approval to $33 Million Gender Class Action Settlement with Smith Barney
• November 29, 2006: Women Renew Charges of Sex Discrimination Against Smith Barney
• March 31, 2005: Women Employees Sue Smith Barney for Sex Discrimination

The New York Times, "Sex-Discrimination Lawsuit Filed Against Smith Barney"

          Four women filed suit against Smith Barney on Thursday, contending that as employees they were denied business opportunities because of sex discrimination.
          The women - one current employee and three former ones - said that because branch managers did not refer clients to them, they were unable to build their business and so were paid less than male colleagues.
          They also claimed that they received less sales support than male colleagues, less desirable offices, and less training. After they complained, they said, male colleagues retaliated against them.
          "The opportunities for women in Wall Street companies have sadly lagged behind those of their male counterparts," said Kelly M. Dermody, a lawyer at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, which is representing the four women.
          She said the plaintiffs were seeking to have the suit certified as a class-action. If successful, thousands of current and former employees of Smith Barney, a unit of Citigroup, could be eligible to join the suit.
          In response to the suit, Kimberly Atwater, a spokeswoman for Smith Barney, issued a statement saying: "These claims are entirely without merit and no number of high-profile press conferences will change that. We are proud of the strides we have made to become an employer of choice, committed to giving every employee the opportunity to achieve his or her full potential. Significant initiatives in the last several years have helped establish Smith Barney as one of the most progressive employers in the securities industry in providing a professional and respectful work environment and fair and equal opportunities for growth."
          The lawsuit is the latest charging that a sexist culture persists within Wall Street firms, and it is not the first to name Smith Barney. Last summer, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $54 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of about 340 women who worked in a division of its investment bank. In 1996, female employees at Smith Barney filed a discrimination suit that described fraternity-style hazing and physical harassment at one of the firm's branches. That case was settled in 1998.
          Thursday's suit focused on the denial of business opportunities. The four plaintiffs asserted that branch managers repeatedly steered clients to male employees. The more clients brokers have, the bigger their portfolios. The amount of each plaintiff's compensation was determined in significant part by the size of the portfolio managed, Ms. Dermody said.
          "Branch managers have extraordinary discretion to distribute these business opportunities as they choose, allowing their gender stereotypes and the companywide culture of gender discrimination to influence their decisions," said the complaint, which was filed in United States District Court in San Francisco. "As a result, Smith Barney's practice is to distribute accounts and business opportunities to male financial consultants in numbers greatly disproportionate to those distributed to similarly situated female financial consultants."
          Three of the women, Renee Fassbender Amochaev, Deborah Orlando and Kathryn Varner, were financial consultants in the Santa Rosa, Calif., office of Smith Barney. The fourth woman, Judy Weil, is currently a financial consultant in an office in Walnut Creek, Calif.
          Ms. Fassbender Amochaev said in a telephone interview earlier this week that she took her concerns first to her branch manager but that he was not sympathetic. She next went to Smith Barney's local and regional human resources executives.
          Word of her complaints got back to her office, she said, and a group of male colleagues circulated a petition supporting her branch manager. She corresponded with the human resources staff for about a year, she said, and last July she left the firm.
          "My questions were not answered. Nobody ever resolved any issues. There was zero accountability," said Ms. Fassbender Amochaev, who worked at Smith Barney for about five years and who now works at Wachovia Securities. "That's why I'm doing this."

The Associated Press, "Lawsuit claims Smith Barney discriminates against women"

          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 [Lieff Cabraser] 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. "Smith Barney is still making money the old-fashioned way - by paying women less," said plaintiff Renee Fassbender Amochaev, 36, who said she was dismissed from the firm's Santa Rosa, Calif. office after complaining of discrimination. The other plaintiffs are Kathryn Varner, a former Smith Barney financial consultant and vice president in the company's Santa Rosa office, Judy Weil, a financial consultant in the company's Walnut Creek office, and Deborah Orlando, a former Smith Barney financial consultant and vice president in Santa Rosa.
          The lawsuit stems partly from efforts by the National Council on Women's Organizations - best known for its efforts to open the all-male Augusta National golf club to women - to push for changes at Wall Street firms. That group last year demanded meetings with brokerage executives who belong to Augusta and invited contact by women at the firms who felt they had experienced discrimination.
          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.