DOES CINTAS DISCRIMINATE AGAINST MILITARY MEMBERS?
2005-11-02 A federal appeals court in St. Louis ruled recently that a former Cintas worker is entitled to a jury trial to determine if he was fired because of his military service. Darold Maxfield, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, worked at the Maumelle Ark. plant until he was fired in Aug. of 2002. He charges that the cause of his dismissal was his frequent military call-ups. In deciding to reinstate part of Maxfield’s 2003 discrimination lawsuit against Cintas, the court found that Maxfield had shown that a “genuine issue” exists about the company’s true motivation for dismissing him. On its Web site, Cintas claims to value military personnel for their “discipline, integrity, and commitment to hard work,” however Maxfield alleges that due to his military involvement he was repeatedly demoted, transferred and eventually fired.
