HomeLatest NewsMcDonald’s franchise to face trial in teen’s sex harassment suit

McDonald’s franchise to face trial in teen’s sex harassment suit

Philadelphia: A jury could find a Philadelphia McDonald’s store manager sexually harassed a teen worker while interviewing her for a crew member job, a federal judge ruled.

Tamiah Marcellus raised fact issues for trial against franchisee Tanway Enterprises on one of two harassment theories, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said. Marcellus can potentially prove her allegations that Darnell Penn subjected her to a hostile work environment, the court said.

According to Marcellus, Penn said his reviewing the contents of an applicant’s cell phone was part of the interview process, and he then viewed the photos on her phone and commented that there weren’t any full-body images. He also asked her questions about her then boyfriend and insisted she review images on Penn’s cell phone. Those images included nude women, she says.

The interview ended when Penn asked her to unbutton her shirt so he could see her breasts and she declined, according to Marcellus.

The questions for trial on Marcellus’ Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, and the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance hostile environment claims include whether she was ever hired and thus an employee of Tanway, Judge Eduardo C. Robreno said Thursday.

Tanway says Penn lacked hiring authority and that Marcellus never showed up for employee orientation and thus was never officially its employee.

If a jury finds a job offer was made it must also decide whether it was contingent on attending employee orientation, Robreno said. Even if it was, a jury could find Marcellus was constructively discharged by Penn’s harassment, relieving her of any obligation to attend orientation, the judge said.

Marcellus can’t prove her quid pro quo harassment claims, the court said. She needed to show Penn conditioned her job offer on acquiescing to his sexual advances or that he took adverse employment action against her for rebuffing him, it said.

There was no evidence the offer was contingent on Marcellus giving him access to her phone, Robreno said. And she allegedly was offered and accepted the job partway through the interview, before Penn made her view his phone and asked to see her breasts.

Marcellus testified that Penn didn’t threaten to rescind the offer if she refused to view his phone or expose herself, the judge said. BBC

 

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