State Department Settles Bias Suit

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.