April 8, 2005 9:31 AM

UBS the latest boom-boom room to pay the price
Posted by Diane Danielsonat 9:31 AM

The New York Times reports on the latest victory for women in a Wall Street sex discrimination case.

In one of the largest discrimination awards to a single plaintiff on record, UBS, Europe's largest bank, was ordered by a federal jury in New York to pay more than $29 million in damages to a former saleswoman who sued the firm for sex discrimination.

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The verdict against UBS is the latest in a series of legal actions against Wall Street houses and other financial firms for sexual discrimination against women executives. Last July, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $54 million to settle a discrimination suit brought by the employment commission on behalf of Allison Schieffelin, a former bond trader, and 300 other women. Also last year, an arbitration panel ordered Merrill Lynch to pay $2.2 million to a former broker, E. Hydie Sumner, who charged the firm with harassment and discrimination.

Just last week, a group of women brokers sued Smith Barney, a unit of Citigroup, charging that their managers steered the best accounts to male colleagues.