Bloomberg Law – Two McDonald’s managers mostly failed with a proposed nationwide collective action against the company and roughly 13,000 franchisees over breaks and space to express breast milk at work, a Chicago federal judge ruled.
But Kathleen Faber and Lexis Mays can replead their allegations against McDonald’s USA LLC and other franchisees and can continue with claims against their direct employers, MBM Management Inc. and Mac-Clark Restaurants Inc., the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said Tuesday.
However, their cases will be transferred to federal courts in Kansas and New York respectively, where Faber worked and Mays is working. …
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BACKGROUND:
NATION’S RESTAURANT NEWS – Two McDonald’s employees have filed a class action lawsuit against the chain and its franchise operations alleging its restaurants do not provide reasonable lactation spaces for nursing mothers, which is in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Pump Act.
According to Law 360, the employees – one in Kansas and one in New York – filed their suit in Illinois federal court on Wednesday, noting the lack of accommodations at their restaurants forced them to pump in unsanitary spaces, including stock rooms and back offices.
Both women said the lack of accommodations is causing them anxiety, humiliation, and emotional distress. They also claim they don’t have long enough breaks to pump breast milk during their shifts.
Nation’s Restaurant News reached out to McDonald’s for comment. The McDonald’s suit comes less than two weeks after a similar class action suit was filed against Wendy’s in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Such lawsuits aren’t unusual. Amazon was sued for failure to provide adequate accommodations in 2022, for instance, while United States Postal workers brought forth a similar lawsuit in August 2023.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division began an investigation into a Texas Whataburger location after an employee alleged she was fired for leaving to pump breast milk.
There is precedent here in the restaurant space; in 2019, KFC was ordered to pay a former Delaware employee more than $1.5 million in a discrimination case filed after she said she was demoted for pumping breast milk …
