The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) union agreed to pay $2.9 million to over a dozen former employees to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit filed against the organization in February 2023, said three union officials.

According to The Guardian, 13 former black and Hispanic employees filed a lawsuit against the union and its president, Sean O’Brien, alleging racial discrimination over their firings after O’Brien took office in March 2022.

The lawsuit claimed that “rather than maintaining or increasing diversity at Teamsters, IBT fired more than a dozen people of color and turned the Organizing Department from a diverse department into a majority white department.” The lawsuit alleged that the terminations “set back the… goals of effectively recruiting and organization non-whites in favor of bolstering the majority white membership and leadership of the union.” It argued that the union fired 72.73% of the department’s staffers who were people of color while firing only 28.57% of white staffers. The lawsuit also alleged that Sean O’Brien “publicly humiliated” the plaintiffs, claiming they were fired for being “lazy” and “bad apples.”

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Guardian.