[JURIST] Food services corporation Sodexho [corporate website] has agreed to an $80 million settlement with thousands of black employees [class action website] who had sued the company claiming they were routinely discriminated against. The settlement, reached Wednesday, requires Sodexho to undertake certain steps to improve diversity in its ranks, including promotion incentives and training programs. The two sides reached agreement at the last minute, with jury selection scheduled to begin Thursday. The class action was filed in 2001 by midlevel black managers who said they had been routinely skipped over for promotions into upper management. The settlement will mean payouts for the 10 lead plaintiffs and as many as 3,000 other workers with the company between 1998 and 2004. Read a Sodexho press release announcing the settlement, and Sodexho more on the discrimination lawsuit. AP has more.