(LEGAFI) -- Matrix, LLC, one of the nation’s largest cleaning companies, has been ordered to pay $450,000 to 15 former employees to settle a race discrimination lawsuit accusing the company of firing a supervisor for refusing to discriminate against black employees, and for terminating black employees because of their race.

The employees allege in the race discrimination lawsuit that Matrix officials told a white supervisor, Barbara Palermi, not to hire any more black cleaners at a client’s site. When Palermi hired additional black cleaners based on their qualifications for the job, Matrix dismissed her in retaliation for opposing the company’s discriminatory request, according to the lawsuit.

The Matrix race discrimination lawsuit further alleges that management officials also discriminated against African-American cleaners by making them sit in the back of the cafeteria during break times and later disallowing them from using the cafeteria at all for their breaks. Matrix later fired all of the African-American employees at the work site and replaced them with an entirely non-black crew, according to the race discrimination lawsuit, filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in Pennsylvania federal court.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, and makes it unlawful for an employer to retaliate against an employee for opposing discrimination, including opposing instructions to make hiring decisions based on race. The EEOC filed suit after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

In addition to the monetary relief given to the class of fifteen, the three-year consent decree resolving the lawsuit bars Matrix from engaging in any further race discrimination or retaliation. Matrix is required to train its supervisors and managers about the prohibitions against racial discrimination and retaliation, report to the EEOC regarding against complaints of discrimination or retaliation at the Concordville, PA, work site and post a remedial notice.

The consent decree was approved by the court on January 4, 2011.

“We commend the company for its agreement to carry out the significant equitable relief provided in the consent decree, including providing expansive annual training, which will benefit all company employees,” said District Director Spencer H. Lewis, Jr. of the EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office.