Harassment is never attractive. Another charge of harassment has been filed by 10 former employees of McDonald’s, this time from Virginia. They claim that they were subjected to sexual and racial harassment and that they were fired or forced to quit because they were black.
One former employee, who had been promoted to shift manager, was eventually fired despite the fact she had never been written up and there were apparently no complaints regarding the quality of her work. She believes she was “fired for being black.”
The female employees suffered sexual harassment from “the highest ranking supervisors” in the restaurants, including inappropriate touching, sexual pictures and solicitations for sex. They claim that they complained to McDonald’s corporate office, but there was no response.
Employees are expected to bring allegations of sexual and racial harassment that violate Title VII to their supervisor’s attention. When the supervisors are the ones allegedly committing the harassment, the employees are left in a difficult position.
The failure of McDonald’s to investigate and respond to these allegations is troubling and their corporate office issued the standard disclaimer that they find such allegations “inconsistent with our values.”
There have been other recent lawsuits involving similar allegations, including from a Queens, New York, McDonald’s. Harassment is a frequent occurrence in the restaurant industry, and the ThinkProgress article notes the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reported that while 7 percent of these workers are women, the make up almost 40 percent of sexual harassment complaints with the EEOC.
If you have been subjected to workplace harassment and your supervisors ignore your complaints, you should seek legal advice from the EEOC or an employment discrimination lawyer. In addition to being illegal, and making your life miserable, if you fail to act in a timely fashion, it could potentially leave you without a remedy.
Thinkprogress.com, “McDonald’s Sued For Supervisors That Allegedly Called Staff ‘Dirty Mexican’ And Solicited Sex From Them,” Bryce Covert, January 22, 2015
