By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
An agreement has been reached over a long-running lawsuit that alleged the Secret Service discriminates against black agents.
More than 100 agents have reached an agreement with Homeland Security and the Secret Service, NPR reports.
The pact still needs approval from a court.
Under the agreement, the Secret Service would pay $24 million, but the agency wouldn’t be required to admit wrongdoing. Included in the settlement are lump sum payments as high as $300,000 per agent.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said he was “pleased that we are able to finally put this chapter of Secret Service history behind us.”
“Had the matter gone to trial,” it would have required that we re-live things long past, just at a time when the Secret Service is on the mend,” Johnson wrote in a statement.
The lawsuit was filed in 2000 on behalf of agents who claimed they were routinely denied promotions as less-qualified white agents received better jobs.
