On this day in Labor History the year was 1997.
That was the day that a group of female employees at the investment firm Smith Barney came to a tentative agreement to settle a sexual harassment law suit against the firm.
Smith Barney was one of the oldest Wall Street firms, with a reputation for respectability.
But behind closed doors the firm more closely resembled what the Chicago Tribune described as a “fraternity-house atmosphere.”
The accounts women told of their treatment at the firm were lewd and disgusting.
In the basement of the Garden City, New York office there was a room called the “Boom, boom room,” where female employees were told to entertain clients.
Fed up with this treatment, more than 20 women joined together and filed a class-action law suit.
To settle the suit, the firm agreed to invest $15 million in diversity training, along with settlements to the harassed women.
But sexual harassment of women in the financial industry was not only a problem at Smith Barney.
Female brokers in Chicago filed a suit against Merrill Lynch, who agreed to a settlement with the plaintiffs.
Smith Barney also did not learn its lesson.
Just over a decade later, the firm again settled another sexual harassment law suit to the tune of 33 million.
This time according to Forbes Magazine, the suit was filed by “four female brokers who accused Smith Barney of preventing them from competing fairly for new accounts, promotions and pay, and depriving women of equal training and sales support.”
Over the course of fifteen years Merrill Lynch paid out almost half a billion dollars in discrimination suits to women and minority brokers.
December 15 - Troops Put Down the Mother’s March
December 14 - Another Hard Fought Victory
December 13 - The Beginning of the End of Apartheid
December 12 - We Disaffiliate!
December 11 - Right to Work is a Lie!
December 10 - August Spies is Born
December 9 - The Cordiner Doctrine
December 8 - The American Federation of Labor is Founded
December 7 - Strong Arming Goldminers
December 6 - Breaking Through the Racial Divide
December 5 - Striking in Solidarity
December 4 - Organizing to End Slavery
December 3 - Learning & Labor at Oberlin
December 2 - 21st Century Corporate Greed
December 1 - Standing Up for Themselves and Their Patients
November 30 - Angel of the Stockyards is Born
November 29 - The Fight for $15 & A Union
November 28 - Disaster in the Mines
November 27 - Death Trap in Newark
November 26 - The Birth of William Sylvis
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