Mountaire Farms, one of the largest poultry processors in the U.S., has agreed to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by a Black former employee who claimed he was targeted for punishment after raising concerns about racial bias in the company’s disciplinary actions.
The settlement was confirmed in a docket entry Tuesday, ahead of a jury trial that was set to begin next week. Tyrone Bethea, who filed the Title VII race discrimination suit in August 2023, notified the court that the case had been resolved, with the parties scheduled to file a stipulation of dismissal by Jan. 28.
The lawsuit stemmed from Bethea’s tenure as a complex food safety and quality assurance manager at Mountaire’s plant starting in July 2018. Bethea, who was also a member of the company’s safety violation review board, claimed that he noticed an inconsistency in how safety violations were punished. Specifically, a white worker was only suspended for a safety violation involving placing hands into equipment before locking it, while a nonwhite worker was fired for the same offense.
