McDonald’s employees protested in sexual harassment in the USA

McDonald’s employees protested in persistent sexual harassment in the workplace in 12 U.S. cities. According to the Fight for $ 15 and a Union union, which organized the strikes, hundreds of people took part in Chicago, Houston, Miami, Detroit and other cities. This is the fifth time since 2018 that McDonald’s employees have been on strike over insufficient efforts to stop sexual harassment in the workplace. In the last five years, at least 50 employees have filed allegations of verbal and physical harassment with sexual overtones at McDonald’s. In April, McDonald’s announced that from January 2022, it would require sexual harassment training, complaint reporting procedures, and annual employee satisfaction surveys in its 40,000 stores worldwide. However, some employees say that is not enough. They want McDonald’s itself, and not its franchisees, who own almost all of its US stores, to be held accountable for the harassment that employees are trying to identify against. "I'm on strike today because we need McDonald's to realize we won't stop. Sexual harassment simply has to stop, "one of the employees who protested in Chicago told ABC News. "It is unfair that employees who earn companies and receive minimal money for their work still have to face sexual harassment," she added. The main impetus for employee protests was the case of a fourteen-year-old employee who sued McDonald’s and a regional franchise in Pittsburgh, USA, last month, along with her parents. According to the lawsuit, in January 2021, a teenage shop hired a manager who was serving a prison sentence for sexually assaulting a ten-year-old girl and was listed in the Pennsylvania Register of Sex Offenders. The manager then harassed the teenager and other underage employees, but neither the store management nor McDonald’s resolved the situation, although employees repeatedly complained about the manager. The whole case then escalated the moment the manager dragged the girl to the bathroom and raped her. The manager was convicted of the crime, arrested and sentenced to up to ten years in prison. But the teenage girl is currently seeking damages from McDonald’s and the franchisee who ran the restaurant where the incident took place. According to her, part of the lawsuit is the fact that the restaurant had to train employees in this area and there should also be a hotline where people can turn with complaints. Unfortunately, the branch where the girl worked in this area failed. McDonald’s said it would begin training employees thoroughly and also called on its franchisees not to thoroughly investigate and ignore any reports from employees. "Everyone at McDonald's deserves to feel safe and respected when they come to work, and sexual harassment and assault have nothing to do in the workplace," concludes McDonald’s.