Kate Lee, one of five former WorldCom employees who founded the fund, said they felt they had to.

Mr. Marcus, who operates a Web site called boycottworldcom.com, said that a WorldCom employee had sent the document to him unsolicited.

The "5100" stands for the number of WorldCom employees dismissed on June 28, 2002 before WorldCom filed for bankruptcy.

Salomon declined to comment in detail about that investigation or the suits filed by WorldCom employees, many of which are now in arbitration.

But six current and former WorldCom employees and lawyers who are handling the cases of many others dispute that assessment.

According to documents filed in one of the arbitration cases against Salomon, the group had grown to a dozen by 2000 and had opened 2,000 accounts for WorldCom employees.

It was a bittersweet day for the many former WorldCom employees who filled the wooden benches in the courtroom and the thousands more scattered across the country.

What it meant to be a WorldCom employee yesterday depended a great deal on location.

The acquisition binge provided other benefits, according to former WorldCom employees and analysts.

E.D.S. also agreed to buy a WorldCom unit for $1.6 billion, taking on more than 12,000 WorldCom employees.