McDonald's Laverton North is seen closed on May 18, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. McDonald's has closed 12 restaurants across Melbourne for deep cleaning after an external delivery driver tested positive for COVID-19. The precautionary decision to close the stores was made after a truck driver delivering supplies to the restaurants while asymptomatic later tested positive for coronavirus. All staff have been asked to self isolate not to return to work for 14 days. The restaurant closures come after the closure of the Fawkner and Craigieburn McDonald's restaurants due to COVID-19 cluster outbreak last week.
Three employees of the fast-food giant McDonald's recently filed new sexual harassment cases against the company. Markets Insider reports that workers from the brand's franchised locations in Kansas City, Los Angeles, and St. Louis have filed lawsuits against the company alleging sexual assault and harassment.
Yahoo! News reports that in 2019, the brand launched a new hotline that enables their workers to express their concerns and report harassment they are facing anonymously. However, MSN notes that the woman behind the most recent lawsuit case against the company, Delisha Rivers claims that they were impossible to reach. She even can't share with the media how they can contact the company.
According to Markets Insider, the company stresses that they do not tolerate sexual harassment and that the franchisees review the facts whenever there is a complaint or concerns raised in restaurants.
McDonald's also says that the brand's franchisees share their sympathy and commitment to being responsive to their communities.
McDonald's Sexual Harassment Cases
MSN notes that the most recent case filed by Delisha Rivers stated that a manager pressured her into sexual acts in exchange for cash and a raise during her time as a shift leader in 2019.
After rejecting his advances, the single mother of five says she began facing retaliation at work. MSN furthers that Rivers tried to contact multiple numbers to report the sexual harassment and what she saw as targeted retaliation.
However, no one was able to offer her assistance.Yahoo! News adds that Barbara Johnson and Elsy Rodriguez filed two other cases. Markets Insider furthers that Johnson experienced sexual harassment in McDonald's St. Louis branch in 2018 when a manager and another co-worker verbally beleaguered her while working.
The manager grabbed her breast on her last shift, marking her last day in her workplace. Meanwhile, Rodriguez filed her complaint in November. She faced verbal and physical harassment in 2015 while working in a Los Angeles branch.
Rodriguez accused a maintenance worker of verbally harassing her, refusing to leave the bathroom while she was inside, then spanking her multiple times. Yahoo! News exclaims that the crew reported the incident to her manager. But the complaint emphasizes that none of them could help her and the harassment goes on.
Sexual Harassment on Fast Food Chains
Rivers points out that she did not feel that the company cares about their situation because if they did, she says the franchise owners would be more aware and more careful about what happens inside their stores. Rivers, Johnson, and Rodriguez are not the only ones who experience sexual harassment in fast food chains.
A report by Business Insider in 2018 notes that 40 percent of women working in the fast-food industry experience sexual harassment while working. It only means that it happens not only in Mcdonald's but also in other fast-food chains.
McDonald's sexual harassment lawsuit cases should be a lesson to other restaurants. Reviewing the standards on how the workers should act in a workplace must be an utmost priority.
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WATCH: McDonald's Faces 25 Accusations of Sexual Harassment from ABC News
