The black owner of 14 McDonald’s franchises says the company favors white owners and denies him the chance to buy restaurants in wealthier communities, according to a civil rights case opened on Tuesday in a federal court in Ohio.
The lawsuit, filed by former professional baseball player Herbert Washington, claims that the Chicago-based fast food chain discriminated against him, leading to a $ 700,000 sales gap between black and white owned McDonald’s franchises. .
Franchises in low-income neighborhoods cost more to operate, have higher employee turnover and are less profitable, claims Washington, a former athletics star at Michigan State University who played part of two seasons with Oakland Athletics in the mid-1990s 1970.
“By relegating black owners to older stores in the toughest neighborhoods, McDonald’s ensured that black franchisees would never reach the levels of success that white franchisees could expect,” the suit said. “Black franchisees need to spend more to operate their stores, while white franchisees are able to enjoy all the benefits of their work.”
Over 50 former Black McDonald’s franchise owners made similar claims in a lawsuit filed against the company in October, saying they were forced to sell about 200 stores in the past decade.
“Shot me to extinction”
During a videoconference on Tuesday, Washington said it had been battling a two-tier system since buying its first franchise in Rochester, New York, 40 years ago. He once owned 27 restaurants, but has been forced to sell seven stores in recent years to White’s owners, Washington said.
He now owns 12 restaurants in northeastern Ohio and two in Pennsylvania. He blames his defense on behalf of Black McDonald’s owners for his problems with the company.
“McDonald’s chose me for extinction,” said Washington. “The bows are in large-scale retaliation mode against me.”
McDonald’s denied the claims. In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, McDonald’s said Washington was “facing business challenges”. The company “invested significantly in its organization”, while giving him several opportunities over the years to solve the problems, added McDonald’s.
“This situation is the result of years of mismanagement by Mr. Washington, whose organization has failed to meet many of our standards for personnel, operations, guest satisfaction and reinvestment,” according to the company.
According to the lawsuit, the number of Black McDonald’s franchise owners in the United States is 186 today, up from 377 in 1998. The company said in response that while the total number of its restaurants in the United States has increased by about 12,500 at the end of 1998 to 14,000 today, the percentage of stores owned by blacks “remains virtually unchanged”.