McDonald's workers sue over sexual harassment, 'toxic' work culture | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
May 30, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, MAY 30, 2025
McDonald's workers sue over sexual harassment, 'toxic' work culture

World+Biz

Reuters
13 November, 2019, 10:45 am
Last modified: 13 November, 2019, 11:02 am

Related News

  • Settlement agreed in Celtic Boys Club historical abuse cases
  • Man arrested for sexually harassing child in Chattogram
  • Manikganj madrasah teacher held over alleged sexual harassment of student
  • Women vulnerable to sexual harassment at cyclone shelters: Study
  • How old were you?: Not all men, but also all men

McDonald's workers sue over sexual harassment, 'toxic' work culture

Workers have filed more than 50 similar complaints against McDonald’s and its franchisees in the United States over the last three years

Reuters
13 November, 2019, 10:45 am
Last modified: 13 November, 2019, 11:02 am
A McDonald's restaurant is pictured in Encinitas, California September 9, 2014/ Reuters
A McDonald's restaurant is pictured in Encinitas, California September 9, 2014/ Reuters

McDonald's Corp was sued on Tuesday by workers in Michigan who accused the fast-food chain of allowing pervasive sexual harassment to flourish at its restaurants nationwide.

The proposed class-action lawsuit filed in a Michigan state court accused McDonald's of lacking policies to address sexual harassment, failing to train managers to prevent it, and retaliating against workers who complain.

It said McDonald's "creates and permits a toxic work culture from the very top," citing last week's firing of Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook for having an improper consensual relationship with an employee.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Easterbrook has said he made a mistake. He has not been accused of sexual harassment.

McDonald's said in a statement it is implementing safe-workplace training at its corporate-owned restaurants and encouraging franchisees to do the same.

"There is a deeply important conversation around safe and respectful workplaces in communities throughout the US and around the world," McDonald's said, echoing comments made in August by its new chief executive, Chris Kempczinski.

Roughly 95% of McDonald's US restaurants are franchised, and the plaintiffs' lawyers said the Chicago-based company does not push hard enough to improve training at the franchised restaurants.

Workers have filed more than 50 similar complaints against McDonald's and its franchisees in the United States over the last three years.

Tuesday's lawsuit was among the first brought as a class action, representatives of the plaintiff Jenna Ries said.

Ries, 32, worked for 1-1/2 years at a franchised McDonald's in Mason, Michigan, near the state capital of Lansing.

She said a restaurant manager there subjected her to repeated sexual epithets and contact, including by pinning her against a wall in a walk-in freezer.

"I constantly lived in fear of losing my job," Ries told reporters on a conference call. "I needed the money."

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of women who worked at the Mason restaurant in the last three years. It seeks improved training, added protections for employees, and more than $5 million of damages.

Ries is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund and supported by Fight for $15, which seeks higher wages and better treatment for workers in fast food and other industries.

The plaintiffs could find it difficult to hold McDonald's responsible for the actions of the Michigan franchisee.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco last month said McDonald's does not exercise enough control over franchise workers to be considered a "joint employer."

McDonald's / sexual harassment

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus meets Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru in Japan on 30 May 2025. Photo: CA Office
    Bangladesh, Japan to sign EPA by year-end
  • File photo of BNP BNP Standing Committee Member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury
    Speaking about country’s issues in foreign trips won’t solve them: Khasru takes jibe at Yunus
  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    'Heavy to very heavy' rainfall expected across country as land depression weakens further

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Courtesy
    New notes featuring historic, archaeological structures of Bangladesh to be circulated from 1 June
  • Two Memoranda of Understanding were signed at the seminar titled “Bangladesh Seminar on Human Resources,” in Tokyo on 29 May 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    Japan to recruit 100,000 Bangladeshi workers over next 5 years
  • BAT Bangladesh has to vacate Mohakhali HQ as SC rejects lease appeal
    BAT Bangladesh has to vacate Mohakhali HQ as SC rejects lease appeal
  • Representational Photo: Collected
    Country's all jewellery shops to remain indefinitely closed in protest of VP Reponul's arrest: Bajus
  • Khondoker Rashed Maqsood. File Photo: Collected
    Investors urge removal of BSEC chairman in meeting with CA’s special assistant, submit list of demands
  • Illustration: TBS
    Bangladesh repays $3.5b foreign debt in 10 months of FY25

Related News

  • Settlement agreed in Celtic Boys Club historical abuse cases
  • Man arrested for sexually harassing child in Chattogram
  • Manikganj madrasah teacher held over alleged sexual harassment of student
  • Women vulnerable to sexual harassment at cyclone shelters: Study
  • How old were you?: Not all men, but also all men

Features

Babar Ali, Ikramul Hasan Shakil, and Wasfia Nazreen are leading a bold resurgence in Bangladeshi mountaineering, scaling eight-thousanders like Everest, Annapurna I, and K2. Photos: Collected

Back to 8000 metres: How Bangladesh’s mountaineers emerged from a decade-long pause

3h | Panorama
Photos: Courtesy

Behind the looks: Bangladeshi designers shaping celebrity fashion

5h | Mode
Photo collage of the sailors and their catch. Photos: Shahid Sarkar

Between sky and sea: The thrilling life afloat on a fishing ship

10h | Features
For hundreds of small fishermen living near this delicate area, sustainable fishing is a necessity for their survival. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

World Ocean Day: Bangladesh’s ‘Silent Island’ provides a fisheries model for the future

1d | The Big Picture

More Videos from TBS

Six Lakh Sacrificial Animals Ready in Sirajganj for Eid-ul-Adha

Six Lakh Sacrificial Animals Ready in Sirajganj for Eid-ul-Adha

47m | TBS Stories
Six MoUs signed during Chief Advisor's visit to Japan

Six MoUs signed during Chief Advisor's visit to Japan

4h | TBS Today
Record migrant deaths in 2024

Record migrant deaths in 2024

23h | Podcast
Govt likely to trim subsidies in new budget

Govt likely to trim subsidies in new budget

7h | TBS Insight
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net