Chipotle Mexican Grill is facing more legal proceedings in addition to the E. Coli outbreak lawsuits. Two Chipotle store managers in Cincinnati are sued by the restaurant's former employees for sexual discrimination charge.
According to Cincinnati Enquirer, the lawsuit was filed by Chipotle's three former female general managers against the Mexican restaurant chain in the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. The former employees allege in the lawsuit that they were wrongly terminated by a former manager who treated male general managers better than three females, even when the women received similar or better performance evaluations or audit.
The plaintiffs claim that Chipotle's area manager Herman Mobbs and his immediate superior Brian Patterson discriminated against female general managers. The lawsuit also claims that Chipotle has violated the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.
The lawsuit was filed by Stephani Ochoa who was a general manager at the Fountain Square location, Tina Reynolds, former general manager on the West Side, and Elizabeth Rodgers, former general manager at the Crescent Springs location in Northern Kentucky.
Ochoa, who worked for Chipotle from 2005 to 2012, said the location she worked in had improved 100 percent in three months, and the team director Patterson was very impressed. But two months later she was terminated and replaced by a male employee.
Reynolds also claimed she was terminated despite above expectations review by her supervisor and replaced by a male employee. Reynolds started working for Chipotle in 2009 and was promoted on numerous occasions. She was terminated in 2011.
Another plaintiff, Elizabeth Rodgers, was also terminated in 2011. Rodgers accuses the chain of violating the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, because she was determinated after taking maternity leave.
Chipotle lawyer, Kate Mowry, argued that the company fired the three former managers based on their work performance, not their sex. She said that these woman were terminated because they did not meet the basic standards of restaurant management.
Mowry added that Mobbs hired and fired both male and female employees. She said that one of the plaintiff's male replacements was transgender. The lawyer argued that for the purposes of this lawsuit, he should technically count as a "she", GrubStreet reported.
In September 2015, Chipotle was also facing a job discrimination lawsuit brought by its former employee. A former manager at Chipotle in Minnesota, Philip Sieden, filed a lawsuit against the company for age discrimination and sexual orientation discrimination charge, according to HR News. Sieden who was an openly gay was terminated in 2013 for poor performance.
The trial on sexual discrimination case began on Monday and is expected to take two weeks.
