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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.

Bethea raised concerns about this racial disparity, but according to the suit, his colleagues pushed back, and his career began to be sabotaged. Bethea claimed that the plant’s director of operations targeted him, saying he wanted to catch Bethea "slipping up" and began closely monitoring his work. The director allegedly verbally berated Bethea, prompting him to file internal bias and retaliation complaints.

In February 2021, Bethea was issued a false safety violation and suspended without pay for five days. He raised concerns with the company’s vice president of food safety and quality, but Bethea claimed the VP dismissed his concerns and threatened his job. Feeling retaliated against, Bethea resigned in March 2021.

Prior to the settlement, Mountaire had secured summary judgment on some of Bethea’s claims. In October, U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Eagles dismissed his hostile work environment and retaliation claims because they were not included in his charge filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). However, the judge allowed Bethea's racial bias claims related to the five-day suspension to proceed to trial.

In January, the parties had a dispute over whether Bethea could present secret recordings he made during his employment at Mountaire, but the court had not ruled on this request before the settlement was announced.

Mountaire Farms is represented by Elizabeth K. Dorminey and Lori P. Jones, while Bethea is represented by Dawn T. Mistretta, Stanley B. Green, and Kaitlyn B. Copeland of Green Mistretta Law PLLC.

The case is Bethea v. Mountaire Farms Inc., case number 1:23-cv-00673, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.