Thursday, December 16, 2021
Lied about love affairs
Ex-McDonald’s boss pays back severance pay
In late 2019, McDonald’s former boss Easterbrook was fired and paid $ 105 million for an affair within the company. However, because of new information, the group has brought charges and demanded the sum back – with success.
The fast food chain McDonald’s has reached an agreement in a legal dispute with its boss Steve Easterbrook, who was fired because of an affair, and received a severance payment of $ 105 million. “The settlement holds Steve Easterbrook accountable for his clear misconduct, including the way he has exploited his position as CEO,” said McDonald’s chairman Enrique Hernandez Jr. “The solution avoids lengthy litigation and allows us to move forward.”
Easterbrook was fired in late 2019 because of a consensual affair within the company. The Briton had violated the guidelines of the burger chain. Easterbrook himself admitted a “mistake” at the time.
In August 2020, McDonald’s said the CEO had “sexual relations” with three other employees before he was fired. He also gave hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of stock options to one of the women he was having an affair with. The former CEO “lied” to the company and “destroyed evidence of inappropriate personal behavior”.
Ex-boss apologizes
McDonald’s sued Easterbrook for this and demanded the return of the severance pay they had received after the dismissal. According to the McDonald’s lawsuit, “dozens of nude, seminude, or sexually explicit photos and videos of multiple women, including photos of these company employees,” were found. Easterbrook had therefore sent the photos from his professional email account to his private email account.
The group argued that if the new information had been known earlier, the company would not have agreed to the contents of the termination agreement. The employment relationship was terminated without any specific misconduct being given as a reason for termination. Because of this, Easterbrook had received a severance payment.
The ex-CEO apologized for his behavior. “McDonald’s and its board of directors care about doing the right thing and seeing customers and people first,” said Easterbrook. “During my time as CEO, I have sometimes failed to uphold McDonald’s values and meet certain responsibilities as the head of the company.”
Easterbrook had received his severance payment in the form of cash and stock options. The current value of the package is McDonald’s with 105 million dollars – around 93 million euros. It’s one of the largest refunds in US corporate history.