McDonald’s beats bias lawsuit by Black franchise operators
By Shubhangi on Jun 11, 2021 | 04:31 AM IST
McDonald’s Corp. defeated a lawsuit accusing the fast-food chain of discriminating against
the Black franchise operators in Tennessee restaurants by forcing them to work
in crime-ridden neighborhoods.
US District
Judge Harry Leinenweber on Tuesday said the lawsuit which was filed in October
lacks facts which can show that McDonald’s treated its White franchisees
differently and misled the franchisees run by Black.
The judge,
though, has given the plaintiffs the option of filing an amended complaint in
30 days which would contain the inadequacies pointed out by him.
“The court does not mean to imply that McDonald’s operations
over the years have not been tainted by the brush of racism,” Leinenweber said
in the ruling, reported Bloomberg.
“The fact that the first African-American franchisees didn’t
appear until 15 years after the franchise system was established in 1955
provides the opposite inference. However, historical discrimination cannot be
the base for a Section 1981 discrimination suit filed in 2020.”
The lawyer for the franchise operators, James Ferraro, said
that they would file an amended complaint.
McDonald’s is facing another bias suit in Illinois federal
which was filed by 52 Black former franchisees in August and is still pending. According
to the suit, they demand damages of as much as $5 million for each of more than
200 stores they operated.
(With
inputs from Bloomberg)
Picture
Credits: Bloomberg