The US District Court of Columbia has approved a $32 million settlement of a nationwide gender discrimination case against Wachovia Securities, now called Wells Fargo Advisors. 

The case alleges that Wells Fargo/Wachovia had discriminated against some 3,000 female financial advisors by depriving them of opportunities to develop business and denying them a fair share of account distributions, as well as unfair treatment of investment partnerships and marketing opportunities. Unfair competition, covering signing bonuses and discrimination in promotion were also brought up.

Wells Fargo/Wachovia has agreed to settle for $32 million but has denied the allegations in the complaint. In the settlement, the company has agreed to make substantial internal changes to level the playing field for female employees. Members of the class action who filed claim forms will share in the monetary portion of the settlement based on their length of service, the evidence of gender discrimination, and other factors. 

"Money can never fully compensate these women for what they experience, but with the business changes agreed to by the company women now have a better chance to realize their full potential at the firm," Whitney Warner, a partner at Moody & Warner, one of the class action's representative law firms, said in a statement. 

The other law firms working on the lawsuit are Sprenger + Lang and Mehri & Skalet.