MICHIGAN (Washington Insider Magazine) – Former McDonald’s employees who claimed they were subjected to widespread sexual misconduct at their Michigan location have struck a $1.5 million deal with the restaurant’s previous owner.
The Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, which assisted in the representation of the workers, confirmed the settlement deal on Monday. A federal court must still sign off on it.
Jenna Ries, a former McDonald’s employee, filed a lawsuit in 2019 against the Michigan-based franchisee Maaks Inc. and MLMLM Corp., as well as the Chicago-based McDonald’s Corp.
According to ABC NEWS, Ries, who worked for 3 years at a McDonald’s in Mason, Michigan, said that a general manager overlooked her male coworker’s persistent harassment of her and several other female employees, which included verbal epithets, groping, and physical abuse.
Ries admitted to crying and feeling physically unwell on her way to work. She was eventually reassigned to a new location, but the coworker who reportedly harassed her stayed at the old one.
Ries said that she filed the lawsuit so that other women would not have to endure what she did.
The case was given class-action status by a federal judge last year, based on evidence that a single male employee harassed around 100 women and teenage girls who served at the business on a regular basis and in a severe manner. Employees will be entitled for an average payout of $10,000 if the settlement is authorized, based on the intensity of the abuse they experienced.
Ries wanted at least $5 million in compensation for herself and all the other female employees at the start of the case. McDonald’s Corp., on the other hand, successfully contended that it did not directly hire the women. Franchisees own and run nearly all of McDonald’s 14,000 locations in the United States.
Ries’ lawyers stated that they had thought McDonald’s would take more responsibility.
Attorneys for the franchisee, who no longer represents the Mason, Michigan, business, were contacted for comment by phone and email.
McDonald’s stated it didn’t have anything to say about the settlement offer.
The case was filed as part of a bigger investigation of sexual harassment at McDonald’s franchises and corporate offices.
According to the ACLU, at least 100 official complaints and lawsuits claiming harassment in the workplace in McDonald’s restaurants have been filed since 2016. In 2019, the corporation removed previous CEO Steve Easterbrook for breaching a policy prohibiting supervisors from having relationships with their employees.
The firm said in April that, beginning this year, it will require staff training and reporting processes to address violence, discrimination, and harassment in its restaurants throughout the world.
