McDonald’s will pay $50,000 to settle a sex
discrimination suit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC), the agency announced. The EEOC charged that
McDonald’s USA, LLC unlawfully subjected an employee to sexual
harassment at one of its Perth Amboy, N.J., restaurants.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit (Civil Action No. 2:09-Civ-05028
(WJM)(MF)), filed September 29, 2009 in U.S. District Court for
District of New Jersey, an assistant store manager made lewd comments
to a teenaged crew member and touched, spanked and hugged him in a way
that made him very uncomfortable. The crew member was only 16-17 years
of age when these incidences took place.
The case was resolved pursuant to a consent decree signed by Judge
William J. Martini on October 19. Besides paying the victim $50,000 in
compensatory damages, McDonald’s will also take important steps to
prevent future workplace harassment. The company will post and maintain
EEOC remedial notices and posters; train all employees and managers at
the restaurant on the federal laws that prohibit discrimination;
maintain an anti-discrimination policy and complaint procedure; and
cooperate with EEOC’s compliance monitoring.