News

McDonald's employees allege retaliation for filing federal sex harassment complaints

May 24, 2018

McDonald's leaders at locations in nine U.S. cities allegedly ignored or retaliated against 10 women, who filed federal EEOC sexual harassment complaints against the company and its franchisees, according to a story on CNBC. Unions and other organizations, according to the story, want McDonald's to be identified as a joint employer so that the corporation is liable when any of its franchisees violate labor laws, including those pertaining to sexual harassment. 

The workers said their actions to stop the alleged illegal treatment were either ignored or made fun of and also resulted in employment termination in some cases for those reporting the behavior. The claims allege that either fellow employees or supervisors had either exposed genitalia to the workers or made sexual propositions to them, as well as groping or fondling the women.

Two years ago, similar complaints were filed against the company and dismissed, according to McDonald's spokeswoman Terri Hickey, who told CNBC that the company did not employ those who filed the complaints. 

The National Women's Law Center's Time's Up Legal Defense Fund is covering legal fees for the women. The fund and the Fight for $15 organization are pushing McDonald's to establish and train employees on a zero-tolerance sexual harassment policy, with a protected process for filing complaints. 

If the EEOC finds the allegations have merit, the federal agency would require the company to hold settlement talks with the women, which could then be elevated to an EEOC lawsuit against McDonald's or the agency's written permission for the workers to do so. This occurred after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday basically upheld employers' ability to block workers, who signed arbitration agreements from filing class-action lawsuits. Whether any of the employees involved in the latest complaints signed arbitration agreements is still not known, CNBC said.