NEW YORK—Mavis Discount Tire Inc. and its associated businesses will pay $2.1 million and provide further relief to settle a lawsuit filed four years ago by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of 46 female job applicants.
The EEOC said it filed its complaint before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2012 after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation agreement with the company.
According to the EEOC, Millwood, N.Y.-based Mavis Discount Tire and its other operating units—Mavis Tire Supply Corp., Mavis Tire NY Inc. and Cole Muffler Inc.—violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by refusing to hire women for its field positions at its 140-plus stores in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
These positions included managers, assistant managers, mechanics and tire technicians, the EEOC said. In addition, Mavis failed to make, keep or preserve employment records, the agency said.
In the eight years since litigation began, Mavis has “taken many steps in furtherance of our commitment to be an equal opportunity employer,” according to Paige Koudijs, co-owner and executive vice president of Mavis Tire.
According to the consent agreement approved March 24 by U.S. District Judge Katherine Failla, the $2.1 million will be divided among the 46 women.
Mavis Tire also agreed not to discriminate against women job applicants because of their gender or retaliate against any person who exercises his or her rights under federal anti-discrimination laws.
In addition, the company agreed to:
c Commit to increase the pool of women applicants by contacting four automotive training schools in different regions;
c Set up an annual scholarship at four different automotive training schools with an annual commitment of $10,000;
c Work in good faith to meet hiring goals for the percentage of female hires each calendar year;
c Adopt a non-discrimination policy and distribute that policy to all employees including managers;
c Provide training on federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination to all current and future managers, supervisors and employees;
c Issue a statement of equal opportunity by Mavis' CEO to all Mavis employees; and
c Establish a toll-free number and secure email address where any Mavis applicant or employee may report incidents of discrimination.
The court appointed Jim Booth as equal employment opportunity coordinator to ensure Mavis' compliance with the agreement and Jennifer Papas as employment practices expert consultant to assist Mavis in recruiting and hiring in its field locations.
“We are pleased that as a result of this settlement, Mavis will be making concerted, verifiable efforts to hire more women at all of its field locations,” said Raechel Adams, EEOC acting regional attorney, in the EEOC press release.