Justice Dept. to Pay $22 Million to Settle Gender Bias Claims Against F.B.I.

The Justice Department agreed to a $22.6 million settlement for 34 women who sued the F.B.I., accusing the bureau of unfairly dismissing them from its agent training program because of their gender, according to court documents.

As part of the proposed settlement, the women can reapply to become agents and two outside experts will review the training program to make sure the evaluation process is fair.

“It was a long time coming,” said Paula Bird, 36, who was one of the women who filed the complaint in 2019. “They finally acknowledged there were problems, and they will hopefully do something about.”

The settlement still has to be approved by Judge Jia M. Cobb of Federal District Court in the District of Columbia.

The women, former recruits, filed the lawsuit, saying the F.B.I. had discriminated against them because of their gender and accusing the bureau of employing a double standard.