US Bus Company Settles Lawsuit for ‘Mocking Chinese’ in Ads

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A Champaign-area bus company sued last year for an ad that the state’s top law enforcement official said harassed and discriminated against Chinese students at the University of Illinois will be allowed to keep operating.

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The consent decree approved by a federal judge to settle former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s lawsuit calls for Suburban Express to make a six-figure payment for customer refunds, implement anti-discrimination training for employees, and be closely monitored by the attorney general’s office for three years.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the company maintains it did nothing wrong and agreed to the deal despite feeling it was being “extorted by the state.”

The agreement follows a mass-marketing email in which the company said riders “won’t feel like you’re in China when you’re on our buses.”

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