A former McDonald’s employee filed a proposed class action lawsuit in Florida alleging she was regularly discriminated against on the basis of her race and ethnicity.
Plaintiff J. Daza Butron brought the complaint against McDonald’s and franchise operator Nova Restaurant Inc. in October, claiming that during her 14 years of employment at a Miami-area restaurant, she was subjected to an array of derogatory terms sometimes prefaced or followed with obscenities from her managers specifically directed at her Bolivian background. She also contends she was discriminated against due to a stroke-related disability and age. The case was removed to Florida federal court earlier this week.
In the proposed McDonald’s employee discrimination class action lawsuit, Daza Butron alleges she was wrongfully fired in 2015 because of her age and disability and in retaliation for complaining about the alleged mistreatment by her managers.
“Throughout her employment with defendant, plaintiff was continually mistreated due to her national origin, age, disability, and race,” the complaint states. “Plaintiff was subjected to harassment by her district managers Nadia and Olga, the individuals of Haitian and Cuban national origin.”
According to court documents, Daza Butron states she has limited mobility in her left hand as a result of a stroke. According to the complaint, Daza Butron’s managers failed to accommodate her disability, often giving her tasks in which she was forced to use her injured hand. She also says was required to wear company provided shoes, despite the pain they caused when she wore them, the McDonald’s employee discrimination class action lawsuit alleges.
Additionally, the McDonald’s employee discrimination class action lawsuit claims the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by allegedly failing to pay Daza Butron for overtime hours she regularly worked.
Daza Butron is asking the court to award her compensatory damages as well as an order mandating McDonald’s reinstate her in her previous job as a food preparer. The complaint does not detail the proposed class Daza Butron is seeking to represent at this time.
This is not the first time McDonald’s or one of its franchise operators has been taken to task over alleged discriminatory practices. In 2015, ten former employees in Virginia filed a similar McDonald’s employee discrimination class action lawsuit against the fast food giant, claiming they were “subjected to rampant racial and sexual harassment, committed by the restaurants’ highest-ranking supervisors.” The workers allege their complaints about the alleged discrimination and wrongful terminations to McDonald’s corporate offices were ignored.
More recently in May 2017, a former McDonald’s employee sued the company and a franchise owner in Michigan after allegedly being sexually harassed and subjected to discrimination in the workplace on multiple occasions by her managers because she identifies as transgender. The plaintiff in this case claims she reported the incidences to the franchise owner and was subsequently fired.
Daza Butron is represented by Anthony Maximillien Georges-Pierre of Remer & Georges-Pierre PLLC.
The McDonald’s Employee Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit is Daza Butron v. Nova Restaurant Inc. et al., Case No. 1:17-cv-24216, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.