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McDonald's faces 2nd sexual harassment class action

Two women have filed a class action against McDonald's alleging the fast food giant failed to stop problems at its corporate-owned Florida stores (Photo: iStock).

April 14, 2020

Two women employed at a McDonald's corporate-owned location in Florida filed a federal sexual harassment lawsuit in Chicago this week against the quick-service giant, seeking both $500 million in damages and to represent an entire class of women who work or have worked at 100 non-franchise locations of the chain in Florida. 

The two women named in the action as plaintiffs are current McDonald's employee, Jamelia Fairley, and a former employee at one of the corporate-owned Florida locations, Ashley Reddick. The pair allege that women working at those stores were subject to frequent and pervasive sexual harassment and a hostile work environment that included groping, physical assaults, and sexually-charged verbal comments, according to Reuters. 

In a statement, McDonald's told QSRweb: 

"McDonald's has always been committed to ensuring that our employees are able to work in an environment that is free from all forms of discrimination and harassment. McDonald's is demonstrating its continued commitment to this issue through the implementation of Safe and Respectful Workplace Training in 100% of our corporate-owned restaurants and encourages our franchisees to do the same. The plaintiffs' allegations of harassment and retaliation were investigated as soon as they were brought to our attention, and we will likewise investigate the new allegations that they have raised in their complaint."

The lawsuit states that Reddick was fired after she reported being the victim of physical and verbal sexual harassment. She had worked at a Sanford, Florida store for about three years. The suit said Fairley was also harassed at the same store. 

The case was previously reviewed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Center and is one of several, including a Michigan class action and a number of individual lawsuits. McDonald's had not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing.