The impact of sexual harassment is not just felt by the person being harassed. If a woman is being sexually harassed at work, her co-workers see it and those who are female may fear that it could happen to them. They see that there is nothing being done to stop the behavior and that makes them worry that it may be part of the company culture. A harassed person can lose his or her job or a chance for promotion if he or she does not concede to the harasser if the harasser is someone in authority. Or, the harassed person may be so uncomfortable they quit their job. The harassment makes the workplace hostile and that can traumatize not only the harassed person but also those who witness it and believe that it is sanctioned by the company. Lumen (2018) of the website, 360 Training explains that when sexual harassment takes place it has a demoralizing effect that discourages women from being assertive in the workplace, and for men it reinforces the stereotype that women are sex objects. “Sexual harassment is also damaging to an organization. . . . The hostility created by harassment causes absenteeism, low morale, gossip, animosity, stress, and anxiety among staff. Low productivity is more common in environments with high rates of sexual harassment” (Lumen, 2018). Other type of fallout from sexual harassment include that both victims and witnesses of sexual harassments are more likely to quit their jobs, which leads to a high rate of employee turnover, higher costs for hiring and training, and a toxic environment that makes recruiting the best employees more difficult (Lumen, 2018).
The effects of sexual harassment do not stop once the victim leaves the workplace either. Spector (2017) of NBC News says, “Sexual harassment can wreak havoc on its victims, and can cause not only mental health issues, but physical effects as well. . . . For victims of sexual harassment, the most common diagnoses are depression, anxiety, and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)” (Spector, 2017). With these sorts of effects on mental health, the victim’s personal relationships are bound to suffer as well as his or her workplace relationships too.
McDonald’s and other restaurant industry outlets have had numerous sexual harassment claims, but McDonald’s rarely ever pays the victims anything and is often not even held responsible when it is proven that the victims were fired as retaliation. The way they avoid these issues is that according to Baertlein and Wiessner (2018) of Reuters is because 90 percent of their restaurants are franchises. The corporation is often not held responsible for the incidents that occur at their franchises. The claimants in the latest lawsuit “including a 15-year-old from St. Louis, said . . . they were ignored, mocked or terminated for reporting the behavior. The accusations included claims that co-workers or supervisors sexually propositioned, groped or exposed themselves to the women” (Baertlein & Wiessner, 2018). Other similar charges against the company were filed in 2016, but McDonald’s was dismissed from the lawsuit because they claim they did not employ the victims who filed the lawsuit, but their franchises did (Baertlein & Wiessner, 2018). While that may be technically true, it would seem that McDonald’s is almost condoning the behavior when they rush to say to the victims that they are not responsible and then refuse to do anything to stop the sexual harassment from occurring. Apparently, judging by the dates of the two lawsuits mentions (and there are probably many more), sexual harassment is common among McDonald’s employees even if they do work at a franchise.
An even more recent class action lawsuit filed in October 2019 points out that McDonald’s does bear a lot of the responsibility. Durbin (2019) of the Chicago Tribune says, “McDonald's and its franchisees are required to comply with state and federal anti-discrimination laws. Beyond that, McDonald's generally claims that workers at franchised restaurants are not its employees and doesn't spell out how harassment claims should be handled by franchisees” (Durbin, 2019). One of the attorneys in the class action lawsuit says, that she will argue that McDonald’s is responsible for sexual harassment at their franchises because the corporation exerts a great deal of control over its franchises. Employees consider themselves McDonald’s employees, and McDonald’s should be accountable.
McDonald’s should take at least some responsibility for the actions of employees even if they are franchise employees. The name on the restaurant where the sexual harassment occurs is
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