Ex-manager sues over Tire Warehouse firing

Monday, January 10, 2011

The manager of the West Lebanon Tire Warehouse store was told to "shut up and sit down" -- and later fired from his $100,000-a-year job -- for asking why his store’s workers weren’t getting paid to attend a mandatory companywide meeting, according to a federal lawsuit.

Kevin Rumrill is suing Monro Muffler Brake Inc., which owns the Tire Warehouse chain, claiming its actions were "wanton, oppressive, and malicious," in a complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in New Hampshire.

Monro, in a prepared statement, denied the firing was in retaliation for Rumnill’s complaint.

Rochester, N.Y.-based Monro -- a chain with a half-billion dollars in sales -- allegedly required the regional meeting in Brattleboro, Vt., after agreeing to acquire the Keene-based Tire Warehouse franchise for $34 million in September 2009, but before the deal was closed.

Rumrill had worked for Tire Warehouse for a decade when Monro bought it. At the time, he says he had an annual salary of $87,780 plus an annual bonus, which in March, 2009 was $15,100.

Monro announced the purchase on Sept. 24, 2009. The merger added 40 tire stores to the nationwide chain along with a distribution center in Swanzey. The stores had produced annual net sales of $53 million in 2008.

Monro followed up with a memo, saying that Tire Warehouse would keep its name and workers and advised that "all employees" attend a Sept. 30 evening meeting, according to the lawsuit.

Here is what happened next, according to the suit:

Rumrill says he was initially assured -- by Robert Schlosser, the vice president of store operations for Tire Warehouse -- that the employees (including the seven hourly workers who were at the West Lebanon store) would be paid to attend the meeting.

But Rumril then received a memo from the human resources manager saying that the workers wouldn’t get paid unless they had comp time coming. When Rumrill contacted Schlosser to explain the contradiction, Schlosser allegedly told him that the sole owner of Tire Warehouse – Robert Dabrowski – had made an executive decision that the workers would not be paid.

Rumrill says he disagreed with that decision, but went to the meeting, which he says – in addition to information about the merger – also dealt with a presentation and training on winter tire sales.

When Joseph Tomarchio, executive vice president of operations for Monro, stated that Monro’s second-best asset was its employees, Rumrill raised his hand and expressed his concern that the employees were not being paid.

"You sit down and shut up and I’ll deal with you later," Tomarchio allegedly responded.

After the meeting, Schlosser approached Rumrill, and allegedly said "if you’re not happy here, maybe you should do something different."

Rumrill says he said he was happy with his job but unhappy that employees were not being paid.

Schlosser reiterated that Dabrowski made the decision, since the employees were not yet Monro employees, so Monro wasn’t going to pay and suggested that Rumrill apologize to Tomarchio, since he wasn’t "starting off on the right foot."

But Rumrill didn’t back down. He says he told Tomarchio after the meeting that he "really felt strongly that his employees should be heard."

The lawsuit alleges that not paying the workers for a mandated meeting where training is involved is a violation of state and federal labor laws.

According to the Monro’s proxy filing, Tomarchio was compensated $1,990,298 last year.

Rumrill said he didn’t hear anything further about the incident until Oct. 23, a little more than two weeks after the merger was consummated on Oct. 5. He says he met with Schlosser at a McDonald’s restaurant near the West Lebanon store. Schlosser asked him about his relationship with Woodstock Sunoco Tire and Auto, and Rumrill says he replied that he was the "money behind that business" as a managing partner.

Schlosser allegedly said that the store is a direct competitor and Monro was terminating him for violating Monro’s conflict-of-interest policy, in the employee handbook.

In the lawsuit, Rumrill says the store, 18 miles away, was not a direct competitor, since it focused on repairs, not selling tires, and besides, both Tire Warehouse and Monro knew of his affiliation with the store in July and August, and he would have sold off his interest if he was told there was a problem.

"Mr. Rumrill would never have sacrificed his position," according to the lawsuit.

But, Rumrill says, Schlosser didn’t offer that alternative at the meeting, even though a meeting before taking corrective action was required by the company handbook, says the lawsuit.

"It is clear that the real reason that Monro terminated Mr. Rumrill was because Mr. Rumrill raised his concern at the September 30th meeting about employees not being paid to attend the meeting, and not because of his affiliation with Woodstock Sunoco Tire and Auto," says the lawsuit.

Monro’s action were "motivated by bad faith, retaliation, and malice," it charges.

Calls to Schlosser and Tomarchio were not returned by deadline, but Ed Mullen, Monro’s Vice President Human Resources, issued the following statement:

"Monro intends to vigorously defend its actions in terminating the employment of Mr. Rumrill and firmly believes that the facts will support the company's actions. It is our strong position that the meeting, which occurred nearly one year ago and before Monro owned or operated the Tire Warehouse locations, played no role in the subsequent decision to terminate Mr. Rumrill. Otherwise, the company has a general policy of not commenting on pending litigation." -- BOB SANDERS/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW

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