WASHINGTON -- Six black Secret Service officers who sued the Denny's restaurant chain last year for discriminatory treatment at an Annapolis restaurant are among 58 plaintiffs nationwide who will collect between $15,000 and $35,000 each under a settlement announced yesterday by the Justice Department.

The $46 million agreement, in which Denny's also promised to try to prevent any future racial bias against customers, amounts to the largest corporate program ever to avert discrimination in public places.

Denny's agreed to sensitivity training for employees, to the use of testers to check for discrimination at its restaurants and to the appointment of a monitor to investigate bias complaints and oversee the company's compliance with the settlement.

"With today's action, the message is clear: There will be a high price to pay for unlawful indignities, and the Justice Department will exact that price wherever the law is violated," Deval L. Patrick, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said yesterday at a news conference.

In the lawsuits, Denny's and its employees were accused of failing to serve blacks or of requiring them to pay a cover charge and pay their bills before receiving their meals. The chain's employees also were accused of ejecting black customers, segregating black from white customers, using racial epithets, failing to honor advertised specials for black customers and trying to limit the number of black customers in a restaurant at any one time.

Justice Department officials said the settlement called for the mostsweeping preventive measures and largest monetary damages ever agreed to in a case involving the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin in public facilities, such as health clubs, hotels and restaurants. The $46 million payout will be made to the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Baltimore, to plaintiffs in a separate suit filed in San Jose, Calif., and to thousands of others who allege they were discriminated against in Denny's restaurants across the country.

'This is the 1990s'

"I thought the fight for the right to eat in a restaurant was a thing of the past," said Alfonso M. Dyson of Upper Marlboro, one of six Secret Service officers who were part of the lawsuit filed against Denny's in Baltimore. "I never thought any of this would happen to me. This is the 1990s."

The Secret Service officers filed suit against Denny's on May 24, 1993, alleging they were not served breakfast at the restaurant on West Street in Annapolis while their white colleagues received their meals promptly. The agents had been in Annapolis to provide security for a visit by President Clinton to the Naval Academy.

As a result of the Maryland suit, which was expanded to include other plaintiffs, Denny's has agreed to pay $17.7 million in damages. Each Secret Service officer named in the suit will receive $35,000. Twelve other named plaintiffs in the Maryland suit will each receive $15,000.

The agreement calls for the balance of the money to be paid out equally to people who file claims under penalty of perjury with a court officer who would substantiate their applications.

"The money is not really important," said Joseph W. James, a Secret Service officer and plaintiff who lives in Upper Marlboro. "What is important are the sanctions against Denny's."

The settlement of the suit filed in San Jose calls for a total payout of $28 million. Each of 40 plaintiffs named will receive $25,000, with the rest of the money being divided among other claimants who can prove they were discriminated against in California. So far, 3,000 claimants have been identified in the California case.

John P. Relman, of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, who helped bring the case in Baltimore, called the settlement historic. He said: "It puts a price on the indignities that black Americans endure every day at restaurants and public places all across America."

"I'm happy about this settlement,"said Kristina Ridgeway, who was among 18 black teen-agers who were hit with a cover charge and a demand that they pre-pay for their meals when they tried to eat at a San Jose Denny's in 1991. Those in the restaurant at the time who were not black had not faced similar demands.

Attorneys who brought the lawsuits said they were convince that the discriminatory attitude at Denny's went far beyond a few isolated instances.

"These are the stories repeated again and again," Mr. Patrick said.

If approved by judges in the two courts where they were filed, the settlements would end two widely publicized lawsuits against Denny's -- something the company said would allow it to begin rebuilding its image among black customers.

Denny's also announced yesterday that it had settled a 1993 complaint filed by a children's choir with the Prince William County, Va., Human Rights Commission. The complaint alleged that Denny's refused service to 132 people traveling with the choir because they were black.

In settling that complaint, the restaurant chain promised to pay $450,000 to college scholarship funds and to several organizations, including the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Jerome J. Richardson, chairman of Flagstar Companies Inc. of South Carolina, the $1.5-billion-a-year corporate parent of Denny's, called the settlements "the end of a very painful chapter in Denny's history. We want to put this issue behind us."

Mr. Richardson said that the company was not admitting it had a policy of discriminating against blacks and added that one reason for the settlement was to avoid expensive litigation. But he also said he did not want to continue the "public perception of an adverse relationship between Denny's and its African-American customers."

'Fair-share agreement'

The 1,500-restaurant chain has been moving aggressively to improve its image among blacks, who company officials said make up 10 percent of its customers.

In July, its parent company signed a seven-year agreement with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In the "fair-share agreement," Flagstar pledged to increase hiring and promotion of African-Americans, to buy more supplies and professional services from black-owned firms, to use more black suppliers and to establish black ownership of 53 Denny's franchises by 1997.

The accord also committed Flagstar to hire 325 black managers by the year 2000; name an African-American to its board of directors; and allow the NAACP to test randomly for discrimination at its restaurants. Flagstar officials report substantial progress on the agreement.

Meanwhile, NAACP leaders welcomed yesterday's settlement and said that they "intend to continue closely monitoring Flagstar's compliance with all provisions in the fair share agreement."