Numerous Labor Violations at McDonald’s Franchises Put Employees at Risk
A group fighting for a $15 minimum wage, especially for notoriously low-paid McDonald’s employees, said on Monday, March 16th that it will file a series of health and safety complaints because of numerous labor violations that have put McDonald’s workers at risk of serious physical harm.
The group of workers said they would file 28 health and safety complaints about McDonald’s franchises in 19 cities across the country. All of the complaints occurred in the last two weeks, the workers said, and have been filed with both state and federal authorities.
The primary complaint involves workers who were burned while trying to pressure-cook food. Understaffing the pressure cooker, as well as employer pressure to cook the food too fast, both led to the serious burn injuries, including third-degree burns, and are also serious labor violations.
The complaint also alleges that McDonald’s failed to supply appropriate first aid and protective gear to prevent these serious burns.
“One of my co-workers and I have to empty the grease trap without protective gear,” Martisse Campbell, a worker at a McDonald’s in Philadelphia, said in a statement.
“We will review these allegations,” said McDonald’s spokeswoman Heidi Barker Sa Shekhem in an email. “It is important to note that these complaints are part of a larger strategy orchestrated by activists targeting our brand and designed to generate media coverage”
Further listed in the labor violations complaint, burned workers said their managers told them to apply condiments to their burns, including mustard, rather than burn cream.
“As this campaign has spread to cities across the country, it’s become painfully clear that unsafe conditions go hand in hand with the industry’s low wages,” said said Kendall Fells, Organizing Director of the Fight for $15, in a release about the complaints.
McDonald’s Employees Also Need Workers Compensation
The Department of Labor released statistics, including information from physically injured McDonald’s workers, which tied low-paying jobs and poverty conditions with serious injury and the inability to climb out of poverty.
“Employers now provide only a small percentage (about 20 percent) of the overall financial cost of workplace injuries and illnesses through workers’ compensation,” the DoL report states. This small amount of workers compensation is clearly not enough to treat a lifetime of injury or disability.
The DoL/OSHA report continued: “For many injured workers and their families, a workplace injury creates a trap which leaves them less able to save for the future or to make the investments in skills and education that provide the opportunity for advancement. These injuries and illnesses contribute to the pressing issue of income inequality: they force working families out of the middle class and into poverty, and keep the families of lower-wage workers from entering the middle class. Work injuries hamper the ability of many working families to realize the American Dream.”
The Strom Law Firm Can Help Victims of Labor Violations File Workers Compensation and Personal Injury Claims
If you or a loved one have been injured in a serious workplace accident, you should file a workers compensation claim immediately. If you believe that the workplace accident was caused by negligence or labor violations to cut costs at your place of employment, then you may have other legal options to provide you and your family with financial assistance while you recover from your injury, or learn to live with a disability. The worker protection attorneys at the Strom Law Firm offer free consultations to discuss the facts of your case. We are here to help. 803.252.4800
