McDonald's Pgh. Rape Incident Helps Spark Employee Walkout

PITTSBURGH, PA — McDonald's workers in at least 10 cities planned a one-day walkout Tuesday to object to the company's handling of workplace sexual harassment and to encourage workers at the fast food chain to unionize.

The protest comes in the wake of an incident in which a Pittsburgh-area McDonald's employee was sexually assaulted. It's unclear if McDonald's workers in southwestern Pennsylvania are participating in the protest, but the Washington, D.C. newspaper The Hillreported that walkouts are planned in Miami, Houston, Detroit and Chicago.

A lawsuit filed last month in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court alleges that a 14-year-old girl was sexually harassed and then assaulted while working at the Bethel Park McDonald's by a manager who was a registered sex offender. McDonald's and local franchisee Rice Enterprises are defendants in the lawsuit, filed by the unidentified victim and her parents.

The manager, Walter Garner, 42, was fired and arrested. He has been a registered sex offender since 2004, according to the state's Megan's Law website.

Fight for $15 and a Union, the organization behind the walkout, noted that McDonald's has had a longstanding problem regarding workplace sexual harassment.

McDonald's has announced that new sexual harassment policies will go into effect at its restaurants next year.

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