---
title: "Reuters: Workers Hit McDonald's With New Sexual Harassment Claims"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/d5db5b31-8f3b-4885-aabe-1259aa085b75
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/reuters-workers-hit-mcdonalds-with-new-sexual-harassment-claims-2706605
category: "Burger"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Burger"
topics: ["Operations"]
published: 2018-05-23T16:11:26.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:09:29.424Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/6c7fd47efbc0354f06f7c10b0fb88f049942.jpg
---

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

**TL;DR:** Ten women have filed a federal complaint against McDonald's, accusing the company and its franchisees of ignoring or retaliating against sexual harassment claims. The complaints were filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by Fight for $15, a union-backed worker advocacy group.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2018-05-23. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/reuters-workers-hit-mcdonalds-with-new-sexual-harassment-claims-2706605).*

## Story

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.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- McDonald's (company)
- joint employer (topic)
- labor laws (topic)
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (regulator)
- sexual harassment claims (topic)
- federal complaint (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/reuters-workers-hit-mcdonalds-with-new-sexual-harassment-claims-2706605). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/d5db5b31-8f3b-4885-aabe-1259aa085b75).