EEOC Accuses Salomon Smith Barney of Bias

Citigroup Inc.’s Salomon Smith Barney unit has been accused in a lawsuit by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of discriminating against black employees. In a complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, the EEOC alleges that supervisors, managers and co-workers of five “Haitian, Nigerian or West Indian employees” directed offensive jokes at them and other minority workers. The five worked as technicians for the firm. The alleged discrimination occurred at the investment bank’s lower Manhattan headquarters and goes back at least as far as May 1997, the suit claims. The complaint also alleges that the investment bank paid the five employees lower wages and denied them promotional opportunities.