LABOR

U.S. Settles Bias Suit With Black Workers: The employees and the Labor Department reached a $4-million agreement described as the largest monetary settlement of a class-action race-discrimination suit against the federal government. The department denied any wrongdoing or liability, saying it settled the dispute so it “could move forward with its broad mission of employment, training and retraining for the American work force.” The agreement provides $2.77 million in monetary awards, $300,000 in salary increases and $1 million for education and training, said attorney Jane Lang of Sprenger & Lang, who represented the employees. The settlement applies to between 350 and 400 employees who claimed they were illegally fired, demoted or denied promotions by the department’s Employment and Training Administration in 1981 and in 1983-84, Lang said.