Cincinnati television station WLWT reported this week that Chipotle has lost a federal lawsuit filed by three women alleging gender discrimination and gender-based termination. According to the station, the women argued in their complaint that they were held to different standards than male counterparts.
According to the attorney for the women, they were overlooked in conversations, not asked for input, and told that there was too much estrogen in the store. They were also told that there were too many overweight women in the store.
One of the women also detailed how the women were held to different performance standards than their male counterparts. The woman alleged that she was fired, even though males who had received worse audits were not even reprimanded.
Why Does This Conduct Continue to Occur in Businesses?
In New York, gender discrimination and gender-based termination are illegal under both state and Federal law. Nonetheless, such wrongful conduct continues to occur. In most cases, businesses only learn and take corrective action when it affects their bottom line. While the conduct of Chipotle was found by a jury to be wrongful and illegal, we hope that this action sends a message to the corporate office of Chipotle so they will implement better procedures and training to assure that this type of conduct does not occur again.
In the interim, we salute the brave women in Cincinnati, and everywhere, who refuse to submit to wrongful and illegal conduct, including pregnancy discrimination and sexual harassment. We are committed to ending wrongful workplace conduct against women in all forms.
If you find that you are being subjected to wrongful or illegal practices in your workplace, you can turn to us. Once we learn about your situation, we can advise you as to what actions you can take to end such conduct, while protecting your job and rights. Depending upon what actions your employer takes and the nature of the wrongful conduct, we can also advise of the legal options that are available at your disposal.