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Former VA McDonald's Workers File Civil Rights Lawsuit

Some former workers at three McDonald’s restaurants in South Boston and Clarkesville have filed a federal civil rights  lawsuit against the chain and one of its franchises. 

The ten former workers , nine are African American, one is Hispanic,  allege supervisors subjected them to racial and sexual harassment. 

Rev. Kevin Chandler, president of the South Boston Halifax Chapter of the NAACP says his organization is backing the lawsuit.

“Supervisors would refer to workers as ghetto and ratchet and declare that they need to get the ghetto out of the store.  An Hispanic worker was routinely called a dirty Mexican and a hot Mexican.  These supervisors walked into the store when it was staffed by black workers and announced, ‘it’s dark in here, it needs more lighting,’”

Katrina Stanfield of Halifax is one of the plaintiffs who lost her job last May, when 17 minority staff members were fired. “My other supervisors would regularly harass female workers at the store, he made inappropriate comments about the bodies of women at the store, he would touch workers inappropriately and send workers pictures of himself naked.”

Paul Smith, one of the attorneys who filed the case in US District Court,  says the fired workers were told they didn’t fit the profile.

“The restaurant franchise owners decided that he wanted fewer African American workers relative to white workers.  He explained to workers that the ratio was off in each of the stores, and he just wanted the ratio to be equal.”

Smith says the corporate giant is named in the suit because it controls every aspect of operations at its franchises.  The franchise owner, who is black, told reporters last spring that discrimination had nothing to do with the firings.

At headquarters, the company says it hasn’t seen the lawsuits and can’t comment on allegations, but says McDonald’s has a long-standing history of embracing diversity