Black Executives Sue McDonald's, Alleging Racial Bias -- WSJ
January 08 2020 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Heather Haddon
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (January 8, 2020).
Two African-American executives at McDonald's Corp. sued the
company alleging racial discrimination and civil rights abuses.
The suit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Illinois, comes as
McDonald's new chief executive, Chris Kempczinski, works to address
concerns about the burger giant's workplace culture. His
predecessor Steve Easterbrook was fired in November after
disclosing a consensual relationship with an unnamed McDonald's
employee.
In the suit, Vicki Guster-Hines and Domineca Neal are seeking a
monetary settlement following demotions that they say occurred as a
result of discrimination and an allegedly hostile climate for black
executives and franchisees at the Chicago-based company. McDonald's
reduced the number of officer-level positions over the past five
years as part of a company restructuring.
A McDonald's spokesman said 45% of the company's corporate
officers are people of color, along with all of its 10 U.S. field
vice presidents.
"While we disagree with characterizations in the complaint, we
are currently reviewing it and will respond to the complaint
accordingly," he said.
The suit names Mr. Kempczinski, Mr. Easterbrook and a U.S.
regional president, Charlie Strong, in its allegations. Messrs.
Kempczinski, Easterbrook and Strong didn't immediately respond to
requests for comment.
Mses. Guster-Hines and Neal are employed by McDonald's but have
taken leaves of absence related to the dispute, according to Carmen
Caruso, one of the Chicago-based lawyers representing the
women.
Mses. Guster-Hines and Neal, both senior directors working for
McDonald's in Dallas, allege that they and other black executives
have been routinely passed over for promotions, contributing to a
lack of minority leaders at the company. The number
African-Americans in the top ranks of McDonald's operations fell to
seven last year from 42 in 2014, according to the suit.
The complainants allege that racial discrimination at McDonald's
intensified after a new crop of executives joined the company in
2015. That was the year Mr. Easterbrook was hired as CEO. Mr.
Easterbrook hired Mr. Kempczinski to the company that year and he
later became U.S.A. president of McDonald's.
During a meeting last year, according to the suit, Ms.
Guster-Hines expressed concern with the small number of
African-American leaders at the company to Mr. Kempczinski and
Melissa Kersey, a human-relations executive. Ms Kersey didn't
immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Kempczinski has told employees that diversity and gender
balance are top priorities, and that measuring diversity among
employees as a percentage is a better metric than absolute numbers.
He has sought to have a diverse pool of officers in his own
executive team.
Write to Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 08, 2020 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
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