Lawsuit Filed by Leon Morris Alleges Hundreds of Insurance Companies Are Financially Supporting Trade Association's Eighty-Two Year History of Discriminatory Hiring Practices

Alleging an eighty-two year history of a glass ceiling for African American employees and recent willful violations of equal employment opportunity laws, a lawsuit was filed today in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against the Life Office Management Association (LOMA), an international trade association for the life insurance industry, and its Board of Directors, composed of executive officers from member companies, including State Farm, Hartford Life, Northwestern Mutual and Ameritas. Member companies of the trade association include Allstate Financial, Prudential, John Hancock, MetLife, New York Life, and Principal Financial Group. The lawsuit alleges the existence of a glass ceiling that denies qualified African American candidates due consideration for positions at higher professional levels such as director or above. "The dues and fees paid to LOMA by more than 1200 member insurance companies go toward supporting the discriminatory views, attitudes and employment practices that have persisted and permeated LOMA over its entire eighty-two year existence. A progressive society cannot continue to tolerate these kinds of attitudes and practices, but that's exactly what the big insurance companies are doing by supporting a relic of racist times. The administration of LOMA and the companies that sit on the Board of Directors, both present and past, must shoulder the blame and responsibility for its decades of unfair treatment of African Americans," says Leon Morris, RFC, CLU, ACS, ChFC, CME, RMP®, FFSI, the plaintiff in the suit.

Mr. Morris alleges that LOMA intentionally, willfully, and with a reckless disregard for the law, obstructed his ability to compete for the position of Director, Business Development, and unduly and unjustly withdrew him from consideration. "To my knowledge there is only one African American manager at LOMA, and that person is manager of office services (the mailroom). LOMA's latest income tax filing for the 2004 tax year, filed August 2, 2005, includes a list of its officers, directors and key employees. There are no African Americans listed. The lack of racial diversity at the management level and above indicates a glass ceiling at LOMA and it confirms that pockets of racism still exist within our country even though our society would like to think that we've reached equality. With the recent deaths of civil rights icons like Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King, it is more important than ever for each of us to prevent this country from slipping backwards and losing ground that was bravely fought for by so many. None of us can afford to sit passively by and let that happen. Filing this lawsuit is my small contribution toward maintaining and advancing the strides we've made," says Morris.

About LOMA: LOMA is an international trade association for the life insurance industry. It was formed in 1924. The President & CEO of LOMA is Thomas Donaldson, CLU, FLMI. 770.951.1770. www.loma.org.

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