Reuters: Workers Hit McDonald's With New Sexual Harassment Claims

Ten women have filed a federal complaint against McDonald’s, accusing the company and its franchisees of ignoring or retaliating against sexual harassment claims.

According to an article on Reuters, the complaints were filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by Fight for $15, a union-backed worker advocacy group pressing to have the McDonald’s corporation designated a joint employer of workers at franchise locations and thereby liable when franchisees violate federal labor laws.

The claimants, who include McDonald’s employees from restaurants in Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Detroit, Durham, N.C., Kansas City, Mo., New Orleans, Orlando and St. Louis, are backed by Time’s Up, a legal defense fund established earlier this year by the National Women’s Law Center.

The complaints include accusations that the claimants’ co-workers or supervisors sexually propositioned, groped or exposed themselves to the women. In a conference call with journalists, the claimants said they were ignored or terminated for reporting the behavior.

“I felt I had no choice but to tolerate it,” said Kimberley Lawson, a 25-year-old McDonald’s employee in Kansas City, Missouri, in the conference call.