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NEW YORK -- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accused Salomon Smith Barney of discriminating against some of its black employees by paying them disparate wages, denying them promotions, and subjecting them to jokes and offensive comments by supervisors.

The allegations were made Friday in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court against the Wall Street firm, a part of Citigroup Inc. (C). The EEOC said it instituted legal action after attempts to work with Salomon to change its alleged discriminatory practices failed.

Ms. Grossman said the EEOC action could lead to other minority workers in the securities industry stepping forward with their complaints. In recent years, more women have come forward with complaints, particularly as the industry has relaxed its mandatory arbitration policies, she said. But minority employees may be less aware that they can pursue claims though the EEOC, she said.

'It's difficult for employees on Wall Street to come forward and bring claims of race and national origin discrimination to the EEOC,' she said. 'We want to encourage people who believe they have been discriminated against to let us know about it.'

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is seeking comments on their Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2000 - 2005. The deadline for submitting comments is September 26, 2000. If you wish to send in comments, do not delay!

Objectives:

• Goal 1: Enforce Federal Civil Rights Employment Laws Through a Comprehensive Enforcement Program.

• 1.1: Improve the effectiveness of the private-sector enforcement program, including the use of charge prioritization, mediation and, where necessary, litigation, by utilizing a comprehensive enforcement strategy that focuses on National Enforcement Plan priorities.

• 1.2: Enhance the effectiveness of the federal-sector program by utilizing a comprehensive enforcement strategy.

• 1.3: Strengthen partnerships with State and Local Fair Employment Practices Agencies and Tribal Employment Rights Organizations to enhance effective implementation of laws addressing employment discrimination.

• Goal 2: Promote Equal Opportunity in Employment Through Education and Technical Assistance.

• 2.1: Encourage and facilitate voluntary compliance with equal employment opportunity laws among employers and employer groups in the private- and federal-sectors.

• 2.2: Increase knowledge about individual rights under equal employment opportunity laws among the public and employee groups.

• Goal 3: Enhance Agency Effectiveness to Achieve our Mission and Strategic Goals by Providing Executive Direction and Support and Building Institutional Knowledge.

• 3.1: Enhance staff capabilities and substantive knowledge to improve work processes and job functions through training, partnership, team-based approaches, and customer-based principles.

• 3.2: Provide policy direction and guidance to achieve all Strategic Goals.

• 3.3: Instill a knowledge base by attaining and maintaining a robust technological competency and through research, analysis and evaluation of organizational components, procedures and processes.

Never miss an opportunity to comment on anything that may impact your retirement future. This is a great opportunity to let the EEOC know that we are still interested in the outcome of cash balance age discrimination charges filed by over 800 employees.

To read all the plan details, click on the link below:

http://www.eeoc.gov/plan/strategic-2000.html

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against Cott Beverage USA Inc., claiming the company paid a female employee at its Wilson facility lower wages than her male counterparts who did the same work.

It's the first equal-pay lawsuit the EEOC has filed in several years in North Carolina, said Mindy Weinstein, the commission's regional attorney. Since she began working as a production supervisor in August 1997, Laurie Atkinson was paid an undisclosed amount less than male production supervisors, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Rod Jimenez, a Cott spokesperson, said the company was unaware of the lawsuit and could not discuss specifics of the case. The company, he said, has a long record of treating its employees fairly and equally and takes equal-opportunity obligations very seriously.

Complaints about violations of the Equal Pay Act make up a small percentage of all the complaints the EEOC receives. Last year, of the 77,444 complaints the EEOC received nationally, 1,044 - or 1.3 percent - were complaints about unequal pay.

Citing "cultural differences," the company that GOP vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney headed for the past five years maintains separate restrooms overseas for American and foreign employees.

Halliburton Co. said Cheney was unaware of the segregated restroom policy in effect during his years as chairman.

A State Department official said he had never seen a similar policy in trips and assignments to four continents. Bill Wanlund, spokesman for the State Department Bureau of Economic and Business affairs, said, "When you go to an American embassy or consulate, there is no separation of facilities."

At least two Americans who worked for Halliburton in Kosovo complained to the company.

"I thought segregation went out in the '60s," former employee Amy Katz wrote to a friend last September, a month before she was fired by the company in Kosovo. She subsequently challenged the dismissal in a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Katz, 32, of Gig Harbor, Wash., alleges she was a victim of retaliation as a result of reporting sexual harassment, gender discrimination and concerns about company policies, including the separate restrooms.

The EEOC has not yet ruled on her complaint.

BOSTON -- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the settlement of an age discrimination lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, its Public Employees Retirement Administration Commission, and the Massachusetts Teachers' Retirement Board, on behalf of all state, local, and municipal employees who have been discriminated against in applying for accidental disability retirements under the Massachusetts public retirement system.

Noting that the Supreme Court recently cut off the right of individual employees to sue states under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), EEOC Chairwoman Ida L. Castro said, "The scope of this settlement should put all state employers on notice that the EEOC will continue to monitor states closely to ensure compliance with the ADEA and protect workers from age bias regardless of whether they are employed in the private or public sectors."

The settlement, which extends back to October 16, 1992, will provide accidental disability retirement pensions to all those otherwise eligible who were either denied or discouraged from applying for these pensions solely because their ages exceeded the Commonwealth's maximum age limitations. In addition, the Commonwealth has agreed to pay double damages to all those who qualify for relief under the settlement. The total amount of the monetary relief is open ended and will be determined only after all of the retirement applications have been processed.

The settlement brings to a close years of litigation in which the EEOC sued the Commonwealth repeatedly for its retirement system's violations of the ADEA. Shortly before the settlement was approved by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns of the District of Massachusetts, the Commonwealth amended its retirement statute to delete those provisions that discriminated on the basis of age.

"We are pleased that the Commonwealth has amended its statute and settled this case with full relief for all those affected by age discrimination," said EEOC General Counsel C. Gregory Stewart. "The settlement makes clear that employers must allow older workers to apply for and receive post-employment benefits without limitations based on their age."

EEOC's lawsuit, filed on June 9, 1999, charged the Commonwealth with discriminating on the basis of age in preventing employees who exceeded certain ages from applying for accidental disability retirement pensions. On January 27, 2000, Judge Stearns ruled that the Commonwealth and the other defendants had violated the ADEA and he entered an order permanently enjoining the Commonwealth from enforcing the unlawful age limitations.

Since 1989, the EEOC has successfully filed several lawsuits against the Commonwealth, alleging that the retirement system discriminated against persons because of their age. In 1990, Judge Rya W. Zobel of the U.S. District Court held that the system's policy of not allowing persons age 70 and older to increase their retirement pension through employment past age 70 discriminated against older workers. In 1993, the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals held that the policy of requiring employees age 70 and older to take an annual physical exam at their own expense to continue working discriminated against older employees. In 1996, the First Circuit held that the Commonwealth again violated the ADEA by preventing persons age 65 and older from joining the Commonwealth's retirement system.

"This is an important case that, we hope, will bring to a close the efforts of the New York District Office and the Boston Area Office of the EEOC to bring the Commonwealth's retirement system into compliance with the ADEA," said Katherine Bissell, Acting Regional Attorney of the EEOC's New York District Office, who was responsible for prosecuting this case with Markus Penzel, an attorney in the EEOC's Boston Area Office. "We would like to commend the efforts of the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General to both resolve this case promptly and fully, and to work with the legislature in amending the statute."

In addition to enforcing the ADEA, which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older, the EEOC enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin; the Equal Pay Act; prohibitions against discrimination affecting individuals with disabilities in the federal sector; sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1991; and Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in the private sector and state and local governments. Further information about the Commission is available on the agency's web site at:

http://www.eeoc.gov.

EEOC Press Release

Thanks to all the employees from Duke Energy and other companies who have filed pension age discrimination charges. Our efforts have already produced results. An amendment was passed July 20, 2000 in The House of Representatives that will require the IRS to withhold funding to companies that engage in pension age discrimination!

The fact that hundreds of pension age discrimination charges have been filed was noted in the "Congressional Record" during the debate. Everyone who has filed and age discrimination charge with the EEOC has already had an impact on the issue, regardless of how the actual charges play out.

If you have not filed your charge yet, it is not too late. Call the EEOC at 1-800-669-4000.

The IBM Employee Benefits Action Coalition has issued a press release warning of the dangers of the pension bill H. R. 1102.

They have also urged the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to act on the hundreds of age discrimination charges already filed due to cash balance pension conversions.

IEBAC Press Release