SharkNinja Operating, maker of popular vacuum cleaners and a variety of kitchen appliances, is turning over management of its Chino distribution center to a third-party operator.
The transfer, which is expected to be completed Feb. 10, 2020, means 110 employees working at the Fern Avenue warehouse will have to apply for jobs with Ryder Integrated Systems, the new employer. In a letter to the state Employment Development Department, SharkNinja wrote that some current workers at the warehouse will not be rehired.
The letter also states SharkNinja expects “net staffing will not decrease at the facility,” and that ultimately there could be more workers than are there now.
The letter did not discuss any pay discrepancies between the two companies.
Representatives of SharkNinja and Ryder did not respond to requests for comment. Companies that lay off employees are required to report such moves to the state at least 60 days before they take effect, a law that also applies if there are changes in ownership or management.
According to the letter, SharkNinja has offered severance packages to workers who are not hired by Ryder.
According to Cushman & Wakefield, a commercial real estate broker, SharkNinja renewed the lease on the 779,052-square-foot distribution center near the intersection of Euclid and Pine avenues during the second quarter of the year.
Ryder, based in Miami, operates a variety of shipping and trucking operations in North America and Europe, with several in the Inland Empire.
The company is facing a civil suit alleging racial discrimination and harassment filed in September by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The suit concerns company practices at its warehouse in Moreno Valley.
The suit alleges black workers were referred to with racial slurs and epithets. One of the employees complained to a supervisor, but no corrective action was taken. Instead, the employee who made the complaint was fired shortly afterward.
Kimco Staffing Service, the Irvine-based firm that recruited workers for Ryder in Moreno Valley, was named as a co-defendant.
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