Two Former McDonald’s VPs Cleared By Judge To Pursue Hostile Workplace Allegations
A judge has granted two Black women permission to proceed with their lawsuit against McDonald’s, Reuters reported. In the lawsuit, Victoria Guster-Hines and Domineca, two former McDonald’s VPs, claim that they faced discrimination because they were Black women and forced to leave after speaking up. The lawsuit is filed against McDonald’s USA, LLC; McDonald’s Corp.; Steven Easterbrook; Christopher Kempczinski; and Charles Strong.
In a 2020 lawsuit, a regional president critiqued “Black woman attitude” and said that one of the plaintiffs and other McDonald’s employees were “angry Black women,” according to U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland.
The lawsuit against McDonald’s
Rowland disregarded claims that Guster-Hines and Neal were passed over for a promotion by McDonald’s, stating they had not demonstrated they were best suited for the roles they applied for
“Courts confronted with accusations regarding ‘angry Black women’ have noted that this epithet carries significant harm with it,” especially when made by a supervisor, Rowland wrote, as per Reuters. In a statement, a Mcdonalds spokespon said the company was pleased that most of the claims had been dismissed.
Previous lawsuits against McDonald’s
McDonald’s has faced several lawsuits, including racial discrimination against Black staff. Last year, the fast-food retailer settled a $10 billion lawsuit by Byron Allen, who accused the company of racial bias by excluding Black-owned media from much of its advertising budget.
Allen’s lawsuit claimed that McDonald’s created a separate “African American tier” with significantly lower advertising budgets for Black-owned media. He argues that this systemic exclusion costs his companies, Entertainment Studios and The Weather Channel, millions of dollars in revenue annually.
McDonald’s also scaled back its DEI initiatives. McDonald’s set specific goals for achieving diversity at senior leadership levels, end a program that encouraged suppliers to promote diversity, and rebrand its diversity team as the Global Inclusion Team.
“We are retiring setting aspirational representation goals and instead keeping our focus on continuing to embed inclusion practices that grow our business into our everyday process and operations,” the company said.
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