No data to display.

McDonald’s beats bias lawsuit by Black franchise operators

By Shubhangi on Jun 11, 2021 | 04:31 AM IST

McDonalds.png

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

Stock View