McDonald's review: Employees and supervisors - how they interact with coworkers with disabilities.

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Tara Beaney, and I am an Employment Specialist with Career Visions Employment Services under Citizen Advocates. My role is to assist and support individuals with disabilities of all sorts with obtaining and maintaining competitive employment. Part of that responsibility is to ensure they are qualified candidates that match the employment they are looking for.

With all that, I would like to share an unfortunate experience I and an individual I support had at one of your establishments in Lake Placid, NY. Back in January 2023, an individual I support, Ryder was hired at McDonald’s in Lake Placid. I supported him through the interview process, coached him during the hiring process and the first few weeks of training. Unfortunately, he had to resign October 17th without a 2 week notice due to an unsafe work environment.

Since day one, Ryder was being harassed by certain staff/coworkers. When Ryder, or I tried addressing it appropriately using roper chain of command, nothing was done about the situation. Each time, concerns were brought up, we were told the staff/coworkers would be “talked to”. Ryder worked the grill, making sandwiches, the front lobby and moved to the drive thru even taking orders at the drive thru. This was his first real job, and he was great at it. He only missed a couple days of work during his 9 months of employment. Throughout his employment, Ryder was constantly being harassed. A more recent incident: Ryder’s coworkers told him to clean the ketchup containers with hot water. This was a task he was never assigned before. I stopped in to check in which is something we do often to ensure all is good with employer and person we support him during this evening. When I arrived, I noticed immediately something was not right. I asked Ryder what was wrong. He immediately started crying. He had burned himself and was refused treatment of any kind. Ryder shared that the staff told him to use the hot water from the coffee machine. When I saw the Manger on duty, Jess, she thought it was funny along with the other staff. I attempted addressing the situatio0n the next morning with Mike. Once again, the response was, he would talk to Ryder and the staff involved in the incident. This did not help the situation or work environment for Ryder at all. It just got worse despite our attempts to get the supervisor to watch security footage, seriously address the hostility in the work environment, etc. October 17th, Ryder worked but only made it into his shift for 1 hour before the manager starting yelling at him and then it just got worse. He called his mother to come get him, he had enough of the bullying. While his mother was driving to get him, she overheard the Manager constantly yelling at her son. I went to McDonald’s the next day, spoke to the supervisor and again had no idea what was going or so he claimed. I really find this hard to believe. If you are a good supervisor, you know what is going on. Again, I was told they would all be spoken to. Ryder wrote a letter of resignation. He and I delivered it together. In the letter of resignation stated that he cannot continue working there in that environment where he does not feel safe and appreciated. Over the last few months with frustration, it had led Ryder to quit. The staff members never were held accountable for their actions they were also very rude to him.

The McDonald’s policy was reviewed and discussed with Ryder during his interview process. The policy states: “McDonald’s employees have the right to feel comfortable and safe at work. All employees must treat each other with respect and dignity and ensure that everyone's work environment is free from harassment, intimidation, or abuse (sexual or otherwise) or acts of threats of physical violence. Also, the Equal opportunity for employees stated “McDonald’s provides equal treatment and equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, citizenship status, disability, sexual orientation, military status, veteran status, gender identity and expression, genetic information or any other basis protected by law.

Unfortunately, your Lake Placid McDonald’s does not hold up to your policy at all.