State Department Settles Bias Suit
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WASHINGTON — After 14 years of litigation, the State Department agreed Wednesday to settle a discrimination suit by giving about 100 female Foreign Service professionals special consideration for higher-ranking jobs and choice positions as political officers to make up for past bias.
In 1976, Alison Palmer, then a career diplomat and now a priest, charged pervasive sex discrimination in promotions, assignments and awards for outstanding work. About 600 women were included in the class-action suit.
The State Department denied the allegation, but in 1987 a federal court ruled there had been discrimination against women in some assignments, particularly in the practice of reserving prestigious political jobs for men.
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