McDonald’s accused of allowing ‘epidemic of violence’ at its Chicago restaurants

McDonald’s employees gather at City Hall to complain about an “epidemic of workplace violence.”

McDonald’s Corp. was accused Thursday of opening the door to an “epidemic of violence” against its Chicago-area employees with mandatory store redesigns and late-hours without adequate training or security.

Seventeen McDonald’s employees filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court accusing the fast-food giant of failing to protect workers from risks it was aware of and chose to ignore. They work at 13 different stores in Chicago, including the showcase restaurant at McDonald’s global headquarters in the West Loop.

Three workers claim they were assaulted or sexually harassed by customers while cleaning restrooms that are a “magnet for crime” because 90 percent of restrooms are isolated and “not in the line of sight of the main customer service area.”

The lawsuit also contends McDonald’s dictated a store redesign tied to its so-called “Experience of the Future” program that split counters, allowing unruly customers and would-be assailants to walk through the opening and attack workers.

The redesign has been put in place at 47 percent of Chicago stores. The height of counters at the remaining restaurants were lowered, making it easier for would-be attackers to leap over them, the suit contends.

In addition to unspecified monetary damages, the suit seeks to force the nation’s largest fast-food chain to eliminate split counters; alter drive-through windows to make them less accessible to outside intruders; and change the “design and placement” of washrooms.

Workers also complained that late-night hours without security guards puts them at unnecessary risk. They want the company to step up training, hire security guards to protect them late at night and implement rigid cash-handling policies.

Children of McDonald’s workers try to occupy themselves while their parents complain about violence in the workplace.

McDonald’s said it “takes seriously its responsibility to provide and foster a safe working environment” for its 850,000 employees.

In a statement, the fast-food giant said the company and its franchise owners “continue to make investments in training programs that uphold safe environments for customers and crew members” alike.

Training programs include a so-called “Mitigating Workplace Violence module” that helps employees “recognize indicators and develop the skills and confidence they need to safely defuse difficult situations that may arise with customers, employees and others,” the company said.

“In addition to training, McDonald’s maintains stringent policies against violence in our restaurants.”

McDonald’s employees told a dramatically different story at a City Hall news conference Thursday arranged by SEIU Local 1, the union trying to organize the fast-food workers. SEIU Local 1 has an ownership stake in Sun-Times Media.

Elvira Gonzalez, a 20-year employee, described an attack last year by a customer who took a “Wet Floor” sign and hit her over the head with it. He called her vulgar names and told her to “return to Mexico” after being advised he couldn’t use the restroom because she was cleaning it.

She said she screamed for help, but the manager didn’t call police or come to help her.

“I felt so alone, furious and even sad because I realized I can’t count on my own employer to protect me at work. I still have pain in my head and neck from the attack,” said Gonzalez, who spoke in Spanish that was translated by an interpreter.

Choking back tears, Gonzalez then described another bathroom attack that left her humiliated and ashamed.

“I was cleaning the men’s bathroom. A different customer came in, exposed himself to me and groped me. I screamed as I ran out to tell my manager about the attack. The manager only laughed and said I should have let him make love to me,” the interpreter said.

Diana Thomas, one of the plaintiffs, said she sometimes feels like she and her co-workers are “risking our lives to work at McDonald’s.”

She talked about a customer who stood on the counter and threatened to punch her because her order was taking too long to process.

“We used to have a security guard at the store, but management got rid of the guard. Soon after, we started seeing more and more gang members come into the store to sell drugs. They would threaten us if we tried confronting them. I watched as one of the gang members spit on a co-worker,” Thomas said.

“Another time, they threw a phone at my manager. The phone landed in the hot grease we use to make French fries, splattering grease everywhere. Once a drunk man climbed through the bathroom window, walked around the kitchen area and yelled at the employees. The man escaped by climbing back out the window.”

Barry Bennett, an attorney representing the workers, said the incidents described in the lawsuit are “part of a citywide and nationwide pattern” at McDonald’s restaurants.

“They’re the result of the choices made by McDonald’s that undermine worker safety,” he said.