DHL has agreed to pay $8.7 million to resolve a long running lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging the delivery company discriminated against Black workers in the Chicago area.

The EEOC accused the company of assigning Black workers to routes in neighborhoods with higher crime rates, segregating Black and white employees and assigning Black workers to move heavy packages while white employees were assigned to sort letters, the agency said in a news release Thursday announcing the agreement.

The EEOC filed suit against DHL in 2010 in federal court in Chicago after attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement, the agency said. The initial complaint was brought on behalf of two dozen workers at the company’s Lisle, Alsip and Franklin Park facilities for conduct dating back to 2005.

The settlement money will be distributed among 83 workers who participated in the lawsuit, the agency said.

In addition to the payouts, DHL will be subject to a consent decree monitored by a court-appointed commissioner for four years. The consent decree requires the company to provide training on racial discrimination laws and provide regular reports about work assignments and discrimination complaints.

U.S. District Judge Andrea R. Wood signed off on the consent decree Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

In a statement, DHL spokesperson Robert Mintz said the company takes claims of discrimination seriously but denies wrongdoing. Mintz said DHL was committed to “creating an inclusive and respectful workplace where every employee is treated with dignity and fairness, irrespective of their race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or any other characteristic.”

“Our policies outline our collective responsibility to maintain an environment free from discrimination and harassment, aligning with both legal requirements and our core values,” he said.

EEOC General Counsel Karla Gilbride said “if an employer honors the requests of white workers to avoid certain parts of a city that are perceived as dangerous, but orders Black workers to continue working in those areas despite their concerns, the employer is telling Black workers that their lives and their safety concerns are valued less than the lives and concerns of their white coworkers.”

“That is plainly unlawful, and EEOC will oppose such conduct,” Gilbride said in a statement.

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