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.
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August 11 - The ILWU is Founded
August 10 - Illinois Brotherhoods Join the ‘22 Shopmen Strike
August 9 - Titan II Fire Kills 53
August 8 - Twin Cities Trades Elect First Black President
August 7 - Love Canal
August 6 - Catastrophic Fire at Chevron
August 5 - Funeral March for Frank Little
August 4 - The Night the Lights Went Out on Broadway
August 3 - PATCO Members on Strike
August 2 - Teamsters 574 Defy Martial Law
August 1 - Teamsters 574 Fight for Their Future
July 31 - The Battle of East 140th Street
July 30 - The Mechanics Institute Massacre
July 29 - Sanitation Workers Strike Charlotte
July 28 - The Silent Parade
July 27 - Ginger Goodwin Murdered
July 26 - Battle of the Halsted Street Viaduct
July 25 - Pushing Back Against Wartime No-Strike Pledge
July 24 - The Great Railroad Strike Reaches Louisville
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