New York, Oct 1 (IANS): The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has agreed to pay more than $22 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging female recruits were singled out for dismissal in training and routinely harassed by instructors with sexually charged comments about their breast size, false allegations of infidelity and the need to take contraception "to control their moods."

"The payout to 34 women dismissed from the FBI's training academy in Quantico, Virginia, still subject to approval by a federal judge, would rank among the biggest lawsuit settlements in the history of the bureau," Xinhua News reported quoting the Associated Press (AP) on Monday in its report about the disclosure.

"These problems are pervasive within the FBI and the attitudes that created them were learned at the academy," David J. Shaffer, the lawyer for the women, was quoted as saying. "This case will make important major changes in these attitudes."

Filed in 2019, the lawsuit contends that female recruits had been subjected to a hostile working environment in which they were judged more harshly than their male peers and "excessively targeted for correction and dismissal in tactical situations for perceived lack of judgment" and subjective "suitability" criteria, according to the AP report.