Ex-employee sues McDonald's for $17,500

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101028/ap_on_he_me/lt_brazil_mcdonald_s_obese_manager

Hi- I just ran across this on Yahoo. Apparently an ex-employee of McDonald's just won a judgment against McDonald's to the tune of $17.500, because during the 12 years that he worked there, he gained over 60 pounds. This was in Brazil. He said that the fact that he was required to sample the food every day, along with the fact that McDonald's supplied him with free meals, caused him to gain the weight. This is crazy. Nobody was forcing him to eat the fries and big macs. Thanks, Nancy

F McDonald's. Kudos to dude for having the ganas to get money out of McD's. Beats playing the lotto.

The article states $17,500...not 17.5 million.

Habibi wrote:F McDonald's. Kudos to dude for having the ganas to get money out of McD's. Beats playing the lotto.

I don't understand this sentiment.
I have no love for McD's but just because I don't like their food that doesn't mean this settlement makes sense.
If a sous chef at an upscale Italian restaurant that serves a lot of pasta and meat made the same claim would you feel the same?

The guy used the legal system, not some backhanded or illegal maneuvre and got a nice little judgment (75K, not 75Mil for those of you who can't read). Good for him. F McDonald's.

Ha - "Hater" - bibi.

Habibi wrote:(75K, not 75Mil for those of you who can't read).

17.5k

-Dan

There are some solid quantitative abilities on display in this thread.

jesteinf wrote:There are some solid quantitative abilities on display in this thread.

Nothing to do with quantitative abililities. Everything to do with not reading closely because I just want to start a flamewar on the internets.

Really though, I have my foot in my mouth.

Hi- Sorry for the mistake. I just edited my post. That amount makes much more sense, even though I still do not feel that he had any grounds to win the settlement. Thanks, Nancy

NFriday wrote:Hi- Sorry for the mistake. I just edited my post.

Now you've gone too far in the other direction....

The guy used the legal system, not some backhanded or illegal maneuvre and got a nice little judgment

I have some experience with Brazilian legal system It's quite possible his efforts were both. That is to say he used the legal system in a backhanded and/or illegal maneuvre.

I thought that McD's did not give away free food to its employees. Years ago. a neighbor who worked there told me that at closing any left over food was discarded and he was directed to 'mix it up' in the garbage to prevent employees from garbage picking wrapped burgers, pies etc. Old or time expired food was treated the same way. In fact I was a McDs yesterday and I saw a worker purchase her food in front of the counter and took it back to eat.

Elfin wrote:Years ago. a neighbor who worked there told me that at closing any left over food was discarded and he was directed to 'mix it up' in the garbage to prevent employees from garbage picking wrapped burgers, pies etc.

I don't think astronomers have devised a scale that could measure the amount of sadness in that sentence.

cilantro wrote:

Elfin wrote:Years ago. a neighbor who worked there told me that at closing any left over food was discarded and he was directed to 'mix it up' in the garbage to prevent employees from garbage picking wrapped burgers, pies etc.

I don't think astronomers have devised a scale that could measure the amount of sadness in that sentence.

Hi,

I was talking to a restauranteur who explained this practice. When he allowed workers to take food home, they would cook food that wasn't required for operations in anticipation of taking it home. When he stopped allowing workers to take food home, they cooked less and had less waste.

This person was not from McDonalds, he has a small restaurant.

Regards,

when I worked at Mc'ds for the week or so I could stand it, any food that was thrown out(wrong order, time expired, etc). was logged by a manager, every burger etc. That way they could monitor what was being thrown away(if folks were making mistakes on purpose, altering expired food, etc. so they could eat it later).

As for meals, when I worked for Mcd's you got 1 meal for each shift worked. An allotted ammount of money that would get you a "meal"(burger, fries, etc). if you went over the allotted ammount you paid the difference out of your pocket.

As much as I dislike Mcd's, food and corporation, those folks have their operation & what they do down to a science, and the costs broken down to the penny if not the 1/2 penny.

I agree with NFriday. Regardless of what one thinks of McDonald's, the employee's complete abdication of responsibility is absurd. It's not like he's the only person who has ever gained weight while working in a restaurant. And, as NFriday pointed out, no one was forcing him to pack on the weight. It was over a 12 year period -- he could have quit, say around 20 pounds, if it was such an ordeal.