OAK BROOK, Ill. -- The National Labor Relation Board's designation of McDonald's USA as a "joint employer" has landed the franchisor in a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination at three franchised stores in Clarkesville and South Boston, Va.
The action in effect asks a federal court to hold McDonald's responsible for hiring and firing employees of the restaurants, which are wholly owned and operated by a franchisee, Soweva Co., a business owned by Michael Simon.
A group of 10 former Soweva employees filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. But the NAACP and the Fight for 15, a union-backed labor-advocacy group pushing for a $15 hourly minimum wage, have said they are supporting the effort.
It was not clear what form that support would take, but the two groups appeared to be the parties that organized a press conference after the filing was announced. During that conference, a NAACP representative said his group was not funding the legal action.
A representative of the organization behind Fight for $15, New York-based Fast Food Forward, declined to answer the question.
The suit alleges that Soweva was hostile toward African-American workers and fired 12 of them without legal cause last May. In a press release announcing the suit, the NAACP and Fight for $15 accused Soweva's store-level managers of saying such things before the dismissals as the store was "too dark" and they needed "to get the ghetto out of the store."
In a statement issued after the lawsuit was announced, Oak Brook, ill.-based McDonald's USA said, "We have not seen the lawsuit, and cannot comment on its allegations, but will review the matter carefully. McDonald's has a longstanding history of embracing the diversity of employees, independent Franchisees, customers and suppliers, and discrimination is completely inconsistent with our values."
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