McDonald's employee witnesses harassment

Unions have approached the OECD to denounce the fact that harassment is tolerated at McDonald's. A French employee witnesses the sexist remarks and the verbal and physical violence that a colleague subjected her to.

A few days ago, an international coalition of unions seized the Organization for Economic Development Cooperation (OECD) to denounce the fact that the McDonald's group tolerates a "systematic sexual harassment". Several testimonies have appeared in the press and, in France, an employee of a restaurant in western Paris for 10 years tells what she suffered at France Inter.

Under the pseudonym of Jeanne, this employee explains that the harassment started about a year and a half ago. She gets along well with a colleague, of whom she is the superior, but very quickly things get out of hand. She explains to France Inter that she noticed that he was "too teasing", "too tactile". "He made me remarks with a sexual connotation. I then asked him to stop, to let go. I asked him to put his eyes elsewhere ", she remembers.

Jeanne distances herself, and her colleague's behavior worsens. After sexual harassment, moral harassment. "He didn't let go of me during the service. It was mean, he was aggressive. Even when I was away, people came to see me and said that he had spent the whole afternoon bashing me. To say sentences like "I'll make her cry", when I was not there ". He continues to sexually harass her at the same time and, one evening, she defends herself. He threatens to slap her, insult her, then comes to physical violence: "He had in his hand a bag full of sandwiches, he threw it on me violently".

In September 2019, Jeanne takes the initiative to speak to the director of the restaurant. "She saw that I was very bad. She told me that she was going to talk to him, and asked him to let me go. He didn't let me go", she explains. She consults her doctor, who wants "absolutely" stop her for fear of her safety. At the same time, Jeanne learns that three other women have complained about this employee. "This boy was protected by the director, because he gets along very well with her. To all of us, the director replied the same thing: that it was" bickering "https://www.aufeminin.com / ". The harasser, on the other hand, boasts: "He always said that his goal was to make the McDonalds girls cry and that in any case he was not risking anything, because the director would do nothing."

Jeanne then called on a lawyer, medicine and the labor inspectorate. She goes to see unions, and the McDonald's group decides to intervene. An internal investigation is launched, and a mediator comes from headquarters. The director leaves the choice to her employee between transfer and resignation. He chose to resign but, unfortunately, that is not enough. "You should know that despite his resignation he is still there, since he works as a delivery man for Uber Eats. So if I go back, I may have to see him again". Still on sick leave, Jeanne testifies to her dangerous behavior: "The last girl, he still tried to hit her, luckily two colleagues intervened". If she has not yet returned to work, Jeanne explains to France Inter that she wants to share her story to make people in the same situation aware: "This is a case that can be very common and happen to anyone. I wish the girls were no longer afraid to talk about it. These victims, I would like them to know that they can do assert their right. "

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