Cintas Corporation (Nasdaq: CTAS – News) announced today a significant victory in two class action employment discrimination lawsuits, Mirna E. Serrano vs. Cintas Corporation (Case No. 04-CV-40132) and Blanca Avalos vs. Cintas Corporation (Case No. 06-CV-12311).
Judge Sean Cox of the Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division issued an Order rejecting the plaintiffs’ bids for class certification in nationwide and Michigan hiring discrimination lawsuits alleging that Cintas had discriminated against female and minority applicants who sought service sales representative positions at hundreds of Cintas facilities across the country.
The court agreed with Cintas that the plaintiffs’ evidence did not demonstrate any common, class-wide discriminatory impact or pattern of discrimination. The court also found the plaintiffs’ efforts to rebut Cintas’ commitment to diversity “entirely unpersuasive,” stating, “Cintas has presented sincere attempts to achieve greater diversity in its company.”
“This is an important vindication for Cintas. Diversity is one of our top corporate initiatives,” says Scott Farmer, CEO of Cintas Corporation and chairman of the company’s Diversity Committee.
“We are pleased that the court acknowledged Cintas’ continued commitment to diversity and inclusion, as both a smart business practice and a way to maximize the talents of our employee-partners.”
Cintas Corporation believes this litigation was a failed attempt by the labor union, UNITE HERE, to falsely portray the company and its commitment to diversity as part of its six year old corporate campaign.
A large component of the campaign is finding potential legal claims against Cintas. UNITE’s hand-picked counsel sought out original named plaintiff, Blanca Avalos, as well as other representative plaintiffs.
