Following news that Prince George’s County must shell out nearly $6 million in fines and back pay to Filipino teachers who were inadequately compensated, a spokesman for Baltimore’s Filipino teachers says they were compensated in the same way.

According to Anthony Japzon, president of the Filipino Educators in Maryland, the teachers Baltimore recruited from the Philippines to work in city schools say they also assumed all the visa fees and other expenses to come here, the Baltimore Sun reported.

City school officials declined to comment for the Sun’s story, which noted that “the teachers willingly paid the fees, and the school district leadership may not have been aware it was doing anything wrong.”

U.S. Department of Labor officials ruled Monday that Prince George’s shortchanged more than 1,000 teachers recruited from foreign countries and ordered the district to pay $5.9 million in back wages and penalties, according to The Washington Post.