McDonald's Sued By Black Former Employee Who Claims Restaurant Did Nothing About Co-Worker Using Racial Slurs

A Black man who worked as a shift manager for a Kansas McDonald’s says his multiple requests to avoid working the same shift as a white co-worker known for using racial slurs were repeatedly denied by the restaurant.

Business Insider reports that the man, Anthony Green, is suing the fast food giant and a franchisee for damages due to this and other instances of “constant racial harassment” that he faced before quitting the job in May 2020.

From Business Insider:

Green started working as a shift manager at a McDonald’s restaurant in Ottawa, Kansas, in January 2020 when he was 17.

The next month, he overheard a Caucasian employee use the N-word at work, per the lawsuit. Green reported the coworker in writing and told his supervisor, who was the location’s general manager. He then requested not to be scheduled at the same time as the employee in the future, per the lawsuit filed in Kansas.

But Green continued to be scheduled the same shifts as the employee, according to the lawsuit.

“Upon information and belief, [McDonald’s] took no further action regarding disciplining [the employee] or warning him not to engage in further racially harassing behavior,” the lawsuit says.

Because of the alleged lack of intervention from the House That Ronald Built, the lawsuit said the employee kept using “racially harassing language” and often referred to Green as “boy.” According to the suit, nothing happened when Green also brought this up to the franchise owner for the Ottawa McDonald’s either.

As if it wasn’t bad enough having to listen to a co-worker casually toss around slurs while they prepared someone’s Saweetie Meal, the lawsuit also alleges that Green was routinely criticized and demeaned by his supervisor in “ways that made him understand he was being targeted and harassed because of his race.”

He also claims McDonald’s didn’t pay him overtime he was owed and that staff members altered his time card to make it look like he worked fewer hours than he actually did, according to the lawsuit.

As a result, Business Insider reports that Green is also seeking back pay, front pay and anything else that the Kansas Human Rights Commission “deems appropriate” in addition to the damages.

More from Business Insider:

“This constant racial harassment made working at McDonald’s too stressful for me (or anyone else in my position) to handle, especially because it was apparent that McDonald’s had done nothing to stop this harassment and was not interested in doing so,” Green wrote in a document accompanying the lawsuit.

McDonald’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit, per Business Insider.