The New York City Law Department has quietly adopted a practice of withholding from public filings how much it pays to settle most federal court cases filed against the city or its employees.

Those amounts were once routinely included in documents placed into courthouse files, but about three years ago the agency began telling plaintiffs’ lawyers that the figures would be omitted from court filings as a condition of settling labor and employment cases. The policy was broadened in November to include lawsuits filed against members of the Police Department.

Law Department officials, who discussed the policy but did not agree to be quoted by name, acknowledged that in a majority of federal court cases that it settles, courthouse records no longer disclose how much the city paid out. The officials said that settlement amounts, however, remain available to those who file a Freedom of Information request or call the Law Department.

“We freely provide information about settlements upon request,” a Law Department spokeswoman, Kate O’Brien Ahlers, said. “That cooperation has always been forthcoming and will always be forthcoming.”