DEA Reaches Tentative Accord With Latino Agents in Bias Suit

Latino agents have reached tentative agreement with the Drug Enforcement Administration to settle a six-year-old employment discrimination lawsuit, the agents’ attorney said Monday.

The class-action suit contended that Latino DEA agents were kept from getting the training and work experience needed to win promotions.

The tentative settlement comes as the FBI tries to head off a discrimination lawsuit by black agents. FBI Director William S. Sessions met last Wednesday with the bureau’s top field managers, and earlier this month he met with more than 200 black FBI agents who complained about alleged discrimination in recruiting and promotions. In 1988, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the FBI had discriminated against Latinos.

The DEA agents’ attorney, Douglas Huron, said he could not give details of the tentative settlement until it is put in writing and presented to U.S. District Judge Harold H. Greene for approval.

According to the lawsuit, Latino agents who were fluent in Spanish tended to be given unfavorable work assignments such as Spanish-English translation, wiretap monitoring and undercover work.

Such positions did not lead to promotions as quickly as other assignments, the lawsuit said, adding that the DEA also failed to give proper weight to Latino agents’ experience. The agents also faced discrimination in pay, awards, training and discipline, the suit said.

The lawsuit sought retroactive promotion, pay and benefits for agents who suffered discrimination and a DEA timetable for hiring and promotion to overcome the effects of discrimination.

The plaintiff class covers about 300 Latinos among the DEA’s nearly 3,000 agents.

DEA spokesman Cornelius Dougherty declined to comment.