Cintas Corp., an Ohio-based uniform manufacturer and supplier, will pay $1,500,000 to settle a sex discrimination lawsuit according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
According to a lawsuit filed by the EEOC, Cintas failed to hire females for the position of service sales representative (SSR) throughout Michigan from 1999 until March 31, 2005.
SSRs are responsible for selling and servicing customers by taking care of all customer needs. The evidence garnered by EEOC revealed that although females applied, they were not hired at a statistically significant level.
EEOC joined an existing discrimination suit against Cintas in November 2005 (Serrano, et al. v. Cintas Corporation, Civil Action No. 04-40132, in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division).
In a consent decree approved by the court on Nov. 25, 2015, Cintas agreed to pay the class of women who applied, but were not hired, $1,500,000 in back pay. Cintas will also pay an additional $50,000 to a third-party claims administrator to distribute money to the class.
Cintas agreed to hire an outside expert to revalidate the criteria used to screen, interview and select SSRs and the interview guides used in SSR hiring. Cintas also agreed to provide training to the individuals involved in the selection of SSRs in Michigan.
Cintas agreed to continue to provide diversity, harassment and anti-discrimination training annually to employees, including SSRs.
Cintas also agreed to post a notice informing employees that federal law prohibits discrimination, and to report and provide to EEOC over an approximate 28-month period information and materials on training programs; recruiting logs; descriptions and explanations for any changes made to the SSR hiring process; its expert’s revalidation findings; unprivileged materials and reports from any audits made of a facility’s SSR hiring or recruiting methods or practices, should an audit be done; and an Excel spreadsheet containing applicant data.
Cintas, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, provides uniforms, entrance mats, and various other products and services to businesses.
Source: EEOC
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