McDonald’s Workers Given Dog Diaper Masks Settle Covid-19 Lawsuit

Workers at a California McDonald’s franchise settled a Covid-19 safety lawsuit with their employer, according to multiple reports Thursday, closing a dispute that drew attention for its month-long strike following an outbreak of cases—and for the workers’ claims that they were given dog diapers and coffee filters instead of face masks.

Employees of the California McDonald’s franchise won paid sick leave and the first worker safety ... [+] committee at a McDonald’s. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Workers at an Oakland McDonald’s won paid sick leave, personal protective equipment and a workplace safety committee in their settlement with the franchise owner, which Bloomberg Law reports was brought by more than two dozen employees and family members. The worker safety committee is the first at a McDonald’s restaurant, a spokesperson for Fight for $15, a labor advocacy group that helped the McDonald’s workers file the lawsuit, told Forbes in an email. The committee, made of at least three workers and one manager, will meet monthly to make sure the store is following the settlement and other public health rules. The settlement also requires the franchise to allow for social distancing, sanitize equipment and surfaces and, if a worker tests positive for Covid, to give them—and workers exposed to them—paid leave while they quarantine. The franchise owner did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement agreement, while McDonald’s corporation was not a defendant in the lawsuit.

“Last year when McDonald’s tried to treat us like dogs, we didn’t sit down or stay silent. We joined together and fought for our dignity as human beings — and we won,” said plaintiff Angely Lambert in a statement provided to Forbes by Fight For $15.

In March 2020—when former President Donald Trump declared Covid-19 a public health emergency—managers gave employees masks made out of dog diapers and coffee filters, the lawsuit alleged. When workers complained, the suit alleges, they were given disposable masks “to wash and reuse,” for multiple days, “until they fell apart.” The suit also claimed that managers told workers, including Lambert, that they could not go home even though they were feeling sick with symptoms of what turned out to be Covid-19, and delayed telling other employees that they may have been exposed to the virus. Workers went on strike in May. They sued the franchise in June, and a judge temporarily ordered it closed, the East Bay Times reported. In a statement responding to the lawsuit filing, franchise owner Michael Smith said the lawsuit’s claims “do not represent the high standards and reality” and that he bought 3,000 masks for workers at McDonald’s locations he owned, according to a local CBS affiliate. The restaurant reopened in July 2020, according to the New York Times. In June, a county judge ordered several Chicago McDonald’s locations to enforce the state’s mask-wearing and social distancing guidelines, the Chicago Tribune reported. The allegations against the Oakland and Chicago franchises “[do] not reflect what has broadly happened” across all its locations, a McDonald’s spokesperson said, adding that the company has prioritized updating safety procedures and stocking restaurants with personal protective equipment.

McDonald's franchise settles workers' COVID-19 lawsuit as U.S. cases surge (Reuters)

McDonald’s Workers Settle ‘Dog Diaper’ Covid Safety Lawsuit (Bloomberg Law)

McDonald’s Franchise Settles Suit Involving ‘Dog Diaper’ Masks (New York Times)