FBI agrees to settle academy sexual discrimination claims for $22M

The FBI has agreed to pay more than $22 million to settle a sexual discrimination lawsuit that alleged female academy recruits were singled out and harassed.

“I think this is an extraordinary settlement and one that may make a real change in the culture of the FBI,” David J. Schaffer, an attorney for the women, said Monday. “The sexist attitudes that women experience throughout the Bureau start from the beginning.”

The payout will go to 34 women who were dismissed from the FBI’s Quantico, Va., training academy. It’s still subject to approval by a federal judge, The Associated Press reported.

The lawsuit, filed in 2019 in Washington, D.C. district court, alleged female recruits in the FBI were subjected to hostile work environments as well as “outdated gender stereotypes” and suffered retaliation or other types of harassment based on their gender.

The women were judged more harshly than male colleagues, were “excessively targeted for correction,” were dismissed in tactical situations for having a “perceived lack of judgment,” and were forced to resign under pressure or “constructively discharged,” the lawsuit alleged.

The suit covered two groups of women: new agent trainees and intelligence analyst trainees.

Monday’s settlement focuses on the agent trainees who were dismissed from the bureau after passing a series of academic and training tests, while their male counterparts were not.

The class action settlement Monday primarily focused on the “subjective decision making” that led to new agent trainees being dismissed at higher rates than men, lead attorney Christine Webber said.

Intelligence analyst trainees said they were harassed by instructors with comments about their breast size, needing to take contraception to “control their moods,” and false allegations of infidelity. One woman was told to “smile more” and was the subject of several sexual advances, and another woman said an instructor stared at her chest while sometimes “licking his lips,” the AP reported.  

The lawsuit said the FBI allowed the “Good Old Boy Network to flourish unrestrained” through “passive tolerance.” Most instructors were male, the lawsuit said, who had no guidance and were able to dismiss an agent at their choosing.

The year after the lawsuit was filed, an investigation from the AP identified several senior FBI officials in sexual misconduct claims.

A 2022 report from the Office of the Inspector General evaluated gender equity in the FBI’s training for new agents and found female trainees were dismissed at rates higher than males and there was a “disparity of treatment” that led to underrepresentation.

The FBI later installed a 24/7 tip line and pledged to take more action against agents who have committed misconduct and to help accusers.

Schaffer said Monday that the FBI will hire an “industrial organizational psychologist,” independent of the agency, to review its evaluation processes and find underlying biases to change training for female recruits long before they become agents.

He also said former Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) “deserves a lot of credit” for the settlement and for her work getting the House Judiciary Committee to open an investigation.

Paula Bird, a lead plaintiff in the case, said in a statement she is pleased that the settlement will bring “a measure of justice” to the women who were unfairly dismissed from the FBI. Bird said she hopes the bureau will implement changes that will give women a fair shot in the future.

Webber said the settlement will allow the plaintiffs the option to be reinstated at the FBI, if they choose. 

“I hope that moving forward, we’ll be … seeing more women entering training knowing that they will have a level playing field and more women becoming special agents. And I think that will be all for the betterment of the FBI,” Webber said.

In a statement to The Hill, the FBI said it cannot comment on pending litigation but said “our people are our most important asset. We have taken significant steps over the past five years to further ensure gender equity in the training and development of all our trainees.  This includes revisions to our trainee evaluation processes and additional training for Training Division personnel.”

Updated at 12:52 p.m. EDT