Legal Review: McDonald’s Restaurants Across the Country Named in Sexual Harassment Complaints

By Employment and Consumer Attorney Jonathan Street, founder of The Employment Law Group.

Movements such #MeToo and #TimesUp have been making strides across the country, particularly in Hollywood by women that have huge platforms to speak to millions of people. It seems it has worked, as now the movement has given women the courage in many other industries to speak up about sexual harassment.

The latest to face allegations is McDonald’s restaurants. Currently there are nine different McDonald’s franchises to face allegations from ten different women across the country.

New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Durham and Kansas City in Missouri are the locations in which complaints of sexual harassment are currently being filed against McDonald’s franchises. Allegations include inappropriate groping and touching, indecent exposure and lewd comments, most often made by supervisors.

McDonald’s currently has a zero tolerance policy in regards to sexual harassment, but it does not seem as though it is being enforced.

In their complaints, the women have stated that when bringing their complaints to the company, they were typically ignored. In other cases, they were mocked for making the allegations. Some even faced retaliation in the workplace.

This is not the first time the fast food chain has faced such allegations. Two years ago they faced similar charges. At that time they stated an investigation into the allegations would be conducted.

However, Terri Hickey, spokesperson for McDonald’s, refused to comment on whether or not those complaints resulted in any policy changes or increased enforcement of the company’s zero tolerance policy.

“The only way things are going to change,” says Jonathan Street of The Employment Law Group, “is if brave women continue to come forward. This is no longer something that will be ignored, or swept under the rug. Everyone has to be held accountable for their actions, and that includes anyone in the workplace that believes they can treat people unfairly or disrespectfully.”

The latest complaints were filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Because the McDonald’s locations named in the complaints are franchises, the franchise owner is named in each complaint. So too however, is McDonald’s Corp.

Due to the fact that the women filing complaints are most often making minimum wage and cannot afford the legal costs associated with pursuing their case, they are being covered by the TIMES UP Legal Defense Fund.

They are working with Fight for $15, who is handling and organizing the women’s complaints in the hopes that they can get the justice they deserve and prevent it from happening to anyone else.