'It's life or death for us': A group of McDonald's employees filed a lawsuit accusing the chain of failing to protect workers from violence in restaurants

Reuters

McDonald's is being sued by a group of 17 workers.

• A group of McDonald's employees in Chicago has filed a lawsuit against the chain, they announced in a Thursday press release.
• The lawsuit, filed Thursday by 17 Chicago-area employees who are backed by the labor group Fight for $15, alleges that there is a "citywide and nationwide pattern" of violence in McDonald's stores and argues that profit-focused corporate decisions are compromising workers' safety.
• "The incidents described in this complaint are not random or unforeseeable," the suit argues. "Rather, they are part of a citywide and nationwide pattern at McDonald's restaurants. Further, they are the result of choices made by McDonald's that undermine safety."
• "McDonald's takes seriously its responsibility to provide and foster a safe working environment for our employees, and along with our franchisees, continue to make investments in training programs that uphold safe environments for customers and crew members. In addition to training, McDonald's maintains stringent policies against violence in our restaurants," the company said in a statement.
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A group of 17 Chicago-area McDonald's workers backed by the labor group Fight for $15 filed a lawsuit against the chain on Thursday, accusing the company of being negligent when it comes to the safety of workers in its stores.

The lawsuit focuses on 13 McDonald's restaurants in the Chicago area, both corporate- and franchise-owned, and alleges that the company is aware of security issues that workers face and has made decisions that jeopardize their safety.

"The incidents described in this complaint are not random or unforeseeable," the workers claim in the suit. "Rather, they are part of a citywide and nationwide pattern at McDonald's restaurants. Further, they are the result of choices made by McDonald's that undermine safety."

The suit details situations that workers say compromised their safety, including instances of customers pulling guns on workers, throwing items at workers, and physically attacking workers. In one instance, a customer is said to have urinated on a worker.

"McDonald's takes seriously its responsibility to provide and foster a safe working environment for our employees, and along with our franchisees, continue to make investments in training programs that uphold safe environments for customers and crew members. In addition to training, McDonald's maintains stringent policies against violence in our restaurants," the company said in a statement.

Nearly 20 911 calls are made from Chicago McDonald's restaurants a day, the suit claims. A May 2019 report from the National Employment Law Project, which was cited in the suit, reveals that there were more than 700 violent incidents reported in the news at McDonald's restaurants over a recent three-year period.

"Police found a dead body in my store's bathroom - there was blood everywhere," Sonia Acuña, a McDonald's worker and plaintiff in the suit, said in a press release about the lawsuit. "McDonald's never provided any safety training or offered any support for the trauma I've suffered. We shouldn't have to put ourselves in harm's way just to support our families. That's why we're suing McDonald's today - because it's life or death for us."

"McDonald's has failed, at a systemic level, to protect its workers from violence in the workplace," Danny Rosenthal, a partner at James & Hoffman and the lead attorney on the case, said in the press release. "Throughout the country, McDonald's workers are regularly threatened, assaulted, and injured by customers. You only need to do a Google news search for McDonald's and crime to find hundreds of examples. The Chicago area is a prototypical case."

McDonald's workers in a Chicago store filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in May regarding workplace violence. The chain has also been the focus of a recent wave of sexual harassment lawsuits. McDonald's workers said in a $5 million lawsuit filed on November 12 that the company failed to address a "systemic problem" of harassment. Earlier this month, McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook was fired over his relationship with an employee.