FBI Settles Bias Claims Brought by 300 Black Agents

The FBI, which lost a 1988 suit accusing it of discriminating against Latino agents, announced Tuesday that it has settled discrimination claims made by a group representing more than 300 black agents.

In an agreement reached after a year of negotiations, the FBI emphasized that it does not admit to discrimination--it merely acknowledges that there have been statistical “disparities” between black and white agents in several categories, notably promotions and assignments.

The agreement calls for a broad overhaul of the FBI’s personnel system and for giving 83 black agents “retroactive relief” in the form of promotions, back pay, assignments, training and newly created positions.

In addition, an unspecified number of black agents will receive payments to redress a “shortfall” in awards and bonuses paid to blacks in the past. Total payments will total about $100,000.

FBI officials, clearly sensitive to President Bush’s opposition to quotas and white agents’ mounting complaints about reverse discrimination, said the relief measures represent merely a “one-time evening of the field.”

“There aren’t any quotas, goals or timetables,” Joseph R. Davis, the FBI’s chief legal counsel, said at a news conference.

And, he said, a plan to hire consultants to revamp promotion, evaluation and reassignment practices--at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars--should benefit all agents, not just blacks.

FBI Director William S. Sessions, who did not appear at the press session, said in a statement that he is “extremely gratified” that a court battle has been avoided. He said that he is committed to a “fair and equitable workplace, free of discrimination.”

Liz Cassell, a leader of the black agents’ group, expressed disappointment that the FBI had refused to acknowledge discrimination. But she called the agreement a “moral victory” because of the promised changes in FBI operations.

“I feel confident that things will get better,” she said at a news conference staged by attorneys for the group.

Cassell said that the FBI’s admission of disparities instead of discrimination “appears to be a face-saving explanation, as opposed to reality.”

She claimed that cases of discrimination are well-documented. In her own case, she said, three less-qualified white males were promoted over her to be foreign counterintelligence supervisors in the training division at FBI headquarters here. After repeated complaints, she finally won a promotion last July.

Other blacks who complained about unequal treatment were “fired, placed on probation or administrative leave--put on the bricks, as we call it,” Cassell said.

Although many details are yet to be worked out, FBI officials and attorneys for the black agents outlined the major points of what they called their agreement in principle.

To make up for past disparities, the bureau will:

--Promote six black agents to supervisory positions with back pay.

--Give lateral reassignments to nine black supervisors in the criminal investigative, intelligence and inspection divisions at FBI headquarters.

--Make 13 black agents entry-level supervisors.

--Provide 15 additional training positions for black agents.

--Reassign five black agents from secondary SWAT teams to primary units and increase by five the number of blacks trained for SWAT teams.

--Provide training for an additional 20 black agents in the technical services area.

The FBI will hire six consultants to help overhaul promotion and performance appraisal systems, review disciplinary methods and look at training and assessment programs for supervisors.

The bureau also agreed to change methods used to assign agents to field offices and to select agents for prestigious SWAT and hostage-rescue units, from which blacks claim they are often excluded. In addition, the FBI pledged to ensure that agents get an equal shot at training opportunities and at awards and bonuses.