ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, December 12, 1996            TAG: 9612120052
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-1  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER

JUDGE DISMISSES RACE-BASED LAWSUIT AGAINST FIRST UNION

A Roanoke judge has dismissed a race discrimination lawsuit filed by a man who said he was the highest-ranking black employee of First Union National Bank of Virginia before he was fired in 1993.

Wallace Allen's $850,000 lawsuit was dismissed at both his request and the bank's. Lawyers on both sides declined to say if there was an out-of-court settlement.

On two prior occasions, Roanoke Circuit Judge Clifford Weckstein had denied the bank's motions to have the suit dismissed on legal grounds - clearing the way for the case to be heard by a jury.

Allen, a former branch administrator and senior vice president, claimed in the suit that he was fired because of his age and race five months after Dominion Bankshares Corp. was acquired by First Union Corp. of Charlotte, N.C. At the time, Allen was 47. First Union acquired Roanoke-based Dominion in March 1993.

Allen claimed in the suit that First Union first informed him he would be retained after the bank's merger because of his qualifications and experience. But later, he alleged, he was replaced by a woman who was younger and less experienced.

The suit claimed First Union has "no African-American high-ranking employees and is one of the most 'lily-white' organizations in Virginia."

While declining to comment on the case when it was filed, First Union officials said at the time that 20 percent of the company's 4,200 employees in Virginia were minorities.

Allen had asked for his job back as part of the lawsuit, but later dropped that demand. He now works as a fund-raiser for Virginia Tech.

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