CHICAGO -- Factory employees who were harassed with epithets, racist graffiti and displays of hangman's nooses will receive a $1.82 million settlement, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Wednesday.

A lawsuit filed in January 2000 on behalf of 32 current and former black employees of Scientific Colors Inc. accused the company of racial harassment at its Rockdale facility. Scientific Colors, which also is called Apollo Colors, manufactures pigments used in printing ink and employs about 200 people.