Fatima Hussein

fhussein@enquirer.com

A federal jury in Cincinnati Monday determined Chipotle Mexican Grill wrongfully terminated three former general managers on the basis of their genders and violated the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

Their suit alleged they were wrongly terminated by a former manager who treated male general managers better than the three females, despite the women receiving similar or better performance evaluations or “audits.” What it also claimed was that the company violated the family leave act.

The trial against the Denver-based fast casual restaurant chain in U.S. District Court began two weeks ago. The jury awarded the three women a total of roughly $600,000 in damages.

All three women worked as general managers in Greater Cincinnati: Stephanie Ochoa at the Fountain Square location, Tina Reynolds on the West Side and Elizabeth Rodgers at the Crescent Springs location in Northern Kentucky.

In court, Herman Mobbs, former area manager at Chipotle, was described as telling one or more of the plaintiffs, “There sure are a lot of overweight women working here,” and “you’re too emotional.”

Chipotle’s team director, Brian Patterson, supervisor to Mobbs, also was named in the suit as demonstrating discriminatory animus to the three women.

The case stems from events going back roughly five years. Court documents said:

Ochoa worked for Chipotle from June 2005 to March 2012. Months before her termination, Patterson and Mobbs visited the Fountain Square location for inspection in January 2012. Patterson said “he was very impressed and the location had improved 100 percent since his last visit three months earlier.” Roughly two months later, Ochoa was terminated and replaced by a male employee.

Reynolds started working for Chipotle in October 2009. She was promoted on numerous occasions and received “above expectations” reviews from her supervisors, along with perfect “cash handling” scores. Despite a September 2011 “above expectations” review by her supervisor and receiving a subsequent bonus, Reynolds was terminated in October 2011 and replaced by a male employee.

Rodgers worked for Chipotle in 2003 and was terminated in November 2011. Rodgers alleges that her termination was retaliation for taking maternity leave under the family leave act after she had twins. One of the babies died after labor, while the other remained hospitalized until September 2011. Rodgers came back to work in August, although the surviving child was hospitalized for another month.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission describes sex discrimination as that which “involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of that person’s sex. The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.”

"We hope this sends a message to Denver that gender discrimination is not good for business," said Kelly Myers, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers.

A spokesman for the company wasn't immediately available for comment.

A trial for two other Cincinnati women who filed suit against Chipotle for sex discrimination is scheduled to begin April 25.