McDonald's Pays Up for Employees Shouting 'Faggot'

McDonald’s has agreed to diversity training and a cash settlement, ending a human rights complaint by two men who were subjected to homophobic remarks by employees of a local restaurant.

Ryan Marlatt, Teddy Eggers, and three other friends had stopped for lunch at a McDonald’s restaurant on East Market Street on July 26, 2008 while visiting Louisville for the weekend.

The men say that while they waited for their food to be prepared, an employee behind the counter referred to them as “faggots” to another employee.

Marlatt and Eggers then approached the cashier, said they didn’t come to the restaurant to be insulted, and asked to speak with a manager.

As they waited for the supervisor on duty to appear, the employee who had called them “faggots” started arguing with them, repeatedly calling them “faggots” in front of other customers and calling one of them a “cocksucker” and “bitch” according to the American Civil Liberties Union which is representing the two men.

Last September, Eggers and Marlatt filed an official complaint with the city of Louisville’s Human Relations Commission.

Under the agreement reached between McDonald’s and the ACLU of Kentucky, the company will provide diversity training for management at 30 of its Louisville-area restaurants and pay Eggers and Marlatt $2000 each.

“The reason we made such a big deal out of this to begin with was because we didn’t want it happening to anyone else, so I’m very glad McDonald’s management is going to be having these trainings,” said Eggers of Indianapolis, Indiana.

“We were hurt and upset, but at least we’re adults and can handle being called names. We hated thinking that this kind of harassment might also happen to someone young and vulnerable who would really take it to heart.”

Marlatt and Eggers say that the supervisor on duty refused to refund the group’s purchase, claiming that only the restaurant’s general manager could authorize a refund.

Marlatt said he attempted several times in the following weeks to contact both the general manager of the McDonald’s and the corporate offices. Though he filed reports with a corporate customer service number for McDonald’s, Marlatt said, he never received any sort of response, and every time he called the McDonald’s where the incident took place, the staff hung up on him.
“While we’re fortunate to have a law banning sexual orientation discrimination in Louisville, this goes to show that it’s still important to speak out and do something about it when your rights are violated,” said Michael Aldridge, Executive Director of the ACLU of Kentucky.