Ex-Salomon Brokers Win Class-Action Status

About 500 former California stockbrokers with Citigroup Inc.’s Salomon Smith Barney won class-action status for their lawsuit alleging the largest U.S. financial services company wrongly confiscated pay when they left.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz granted class-action status to workers in the 1998 lawsuit. The former Salomon stockbrokers seek about $35 million in compensation, according to their lawyer Ashley Posner.

A spokeswoman for Salomon Smith Barney said Munoz’s decision was “procedural and not merit-based.”