GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Founders Brewing Co. says it has settled a federal lawsuit in which a black employee at its Detroit tap room claimed his colleagues used racial slurs with impunity as part of a racist culture.

The settlement comes as the Grand Rapids-based brewery faces backlash for a legal deposition in which a general manager at Founders’ Detroit tap room would not concede that the employee who filed the lawsuit, Tracy Evans, is black.

The brewery’s founders, Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers, announced the settlement in a statement released Thursday afternoon. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.

“We are pleased to settle this case and focus on the future,” the statement says.

“Through recent discussion with Tracy, we listened, engaged in self-discovery, and reached common ground to make amends. We agreed that nobody be viewed at fault here. Most importantly, this serves as an opportunity to place our full attention on the work we now have to do, as a company of more than 600 dedicated team members, to rebuild our relationships.”

Outrage over the deposition, first reported by Detroit Metro Times, was swift. Founders temporarily closed its Detroit tap room, withdrew from the city’s Fall Beer Fest, and some bars and stores said they were pulling the breweries products from its shelves.

The controversy also prompted Founders’ director of diversity and inclusion to step down. In her resignation letter, Graci Harkema said that Founders’ executives have been more concerned with “winning the lawsuit” than “the loss of customers, loss of reputation, and loss of employees’ wellbeing.”

The statement from Founders announcing the settlement also included a statement from Evans, the former employee who filed the lawsuit.

In his statement, Evans said he wants “the world to know the power we have when we step forward and make ourselves heard.”

“I don’t know what happens from here within the doors of Founders Brewing Co.,” he said. “I do know this; we have legal resolution and we have started looking at how ALL of this is affecting human lives. I don’t know what Dave and Mike have planned for the future, but I know that ‘seeing color’ and valuing people for who they are, and their collection of experiences is a mission.”

Evans worked at Founders Grand Rapids production facility from 2014 to 2017 then became a manager at the Detroit taproom before he was fired in 2018. In the deposition, general manager Dominic Ryan — who said he had known Evans for years, before he started working at Founders — was questioned by Evans’ attorney, Jack Schulz.

During the questioning, Ryan was asked by Schulz if he was aware that Evans was black. Ryan responded by saying, “What do you mean by that?” Ryan also said he couldn’t answer the question of whether he knew Evans was African American because he was “not sure of his lineage.”

Stevens and Engbers said they are “committed to moving the cause of diversity and inclusion forward for Founders.”

“We want every employee to feel valued, respected and safe,” they said. “We abhor discriminatory action of any type and believe that beer should bring people together and not divide.”

Engbers, in an interview this week with the Grand Rapids Press/MLive.com, said Founders will at some point reopen its Detroit tap room. But before that happens, he said the company must have conversations with its employees, members of the beer community and others.

“First and foremost, we need to talk to our employees and make sure they feel that they are in a safe place,” he said. “We need to have these difficult conversations about what they feel needs to change in Detroit for our taproom to be successful.”

Here’s Evans’ full statement:

“I am not going to say too much here but I want the world to know the power we have when we step forward and make ourselves heard. Upon hearing us, businesses also have the power to make changes or not. I don’t know what happens from here within the doors of Founders Brewing Co.

I do know this; we have legal resolution and we have started looking at how ALL of this is affecting human lives. I don’t know what Dave and Mike have planned for the future, but I know that that ”seeing color” and valuing people for who they are, and their collection of experiences is the mission. Learning from our mistakes is also part of the mission. Founders as a whole made some bad choices. I, as an individual made some mistakes but on this day we look to move forward. When someone offers to change, as humans we have a few choices and I have made the choice to see what Founders does with the path that they are about to take. To those that were affected by all of this within Founders and had nothing to do with this, I apologize. To the few of those that were affected by this and you are a part of the problem, I hope you listen to what your company is about to start saying. Craft beer is about coming together and celebrating our differences and no dollar amount should make a company want to forget that.

A company is nothing without its workers and you deserve to be valued as such and there should be a clear line of what those goals are. As there are still people working for Founders that I still love very dearly, I hope for nothing but the best for Founders in the future. I will also be moving on and continuing this fight around the world as the issues that I experienced at Founders are not just a Founders issue, they happen everywhere and I vow to continue to be a vessel to help both employers and employees become better at acknowledging, understanding and dealing with them.

Love you all, thanks for the support and let’s continue to stand up for what’s right.

Tracy Evans"