“Go back to your country”, “PD”, “whore”, and other words that legitimize rape… Imène, 26, far from imagining that harassment would become her day-to-day life when she was hired in the middle of time two years ago. at McDonald’s in Aucamville, Toulouse. And yet, since the summer of 2020, this architecture student and several other employees claim to be victims of sexist, racist and homophobic harassment in her workplace.
These employees, some of whom have since left the company, accuse two managers and four team members of making “extremely outrageous” comments about them on numerous occasions, “in the face of management’s greatest indifference.” A complaint was even filed. The address of the site, contacted by BFMTV.com, ensures that an internal investigation has been opened into these “extremely serious” events, and this “as soon as they were brought to the attention of the restaurant’s management.”
Management indicates that at the end of this investigation two immediate actions were taken: the dismissal prior to the dismissal of the aggressor, followed by incentives for the employee to file a complaint with the competent authorities, and the departure of one of the two executives concerned from the restaurant. “.
“Shocking, Uninhibited Jokes”
A response that does not convince the employees of the franchise, who organized a demonstration in front of the chain restaurant last Wednesday. “Racist harassment, accomplice of McDo!”, could be read on the banners of angry employees, who denounced the lack of reactions and sanctions from management despite their warnings in recent months.
“The problem started with a first boss who made outrageous jokes, both racist and sexist, in a totally uninhibited way in front of everyone, and who dragged four other employees and then another boss with him”, explains Imène.
“A perpetual rejection of our origins, our religious beliefs and our sexual orientations”
“One day we were working and he came to explain to us what behaviors in a girl could justify a rape,” recalls the young woman, who also evokes insults towards homosexuals, Arabs or black people.
The student, of Algerian origin, explains that she first decided to “ignore” this behavior, and even “unfortunately she got used to this type of comment.” “But it intensified during the last presidential campaign,” she says. “In April she told us that we were not at home here and that Islam had nothing to do in France.”
At the end of this lively discussion, the peer group of which Imene is a member wrote to management to warn her. In this letter, which BFMTV.com was able to consult, they denounced “a discrimination that continues and that we have been experiencing for several years within the company.”
From verbal abuse to physical aggression
And one night at the end of September, Imène is reprimanded by this manager and other colleagues. At the end of his service, the small group verbally confronts him. One of them threatens to hit her, tries to rip off the veil of one of her companions, and then physically attacks Imene. “They humiliated us, they scandalized us,” says the young woman, who to this day is still on leave due to a “work accident.”
The next day, the small group alerts management again, and Imene is greeted by the restaurant manager. The latter, however, ensures that beyond a transfer, “no sanction” has been taken against the man who attacked her. “We have the impression that nothing can stop them,” confesses the student, annoyed to this day, the young woman. She says that she is still waiting for the appointment with occupational medicine and the psychological help that management promised her.
The management of the fast food restaurant assures BFMTV.com that “an independent specialized firm will be commissioned to discuss with all employees and identify all useful measures to strengthen awareness and prevent any sexist, discriminatory and racist behavior, in addition of the existing ones”.
Source: BFM TV
