Joliet McDonald's Sued For Sexual Harassment, Egregious Harassment By This Ex-Employee

JOLIET, IL — Dawn Donnellan, who worked on two different occasions from the summer of 2000 until May 2023 at the Joliet McDonald's at 508 East Cass Street, has filed a civil lawsuit at the Will County Courthouse against McDonald's Restaurants of Illinois, contending she suffered harassment based on disability as well as sexual harassment.

Attorney Paul Luka of Mendoza Law in Berwyn filed the lawsuit seeking in excess of $50,000 for his client.

According to their lawsuit, one of Donnellan's female managers at the Cass Street McDonald's told her, "you're such a f***ing whore" and in front of another male co-worker, the same female manager remarked, "you're such a little whore."

The same manager told another male employee, "look at her p***y" as they both laughed together, according to the court filing, while another male worker told Donnellan at the restaurant, "girl, your c**chie smells."

Donnellan's lawsuit indicates she worked at Joliet's East Cass Street McDonald's from July 2020 until June 2022. She was rehired on Sept. 13, 2022, and "her supervisors and coworkers began treating her poorly. This escalated over time until by the end of her second stint at the restaurant, it had developed into intolerable and egregious harassment on an almost daily, if not daily basis."

The lawsuit noted she is disabled from a past serious brain injury that left her with permanent impairment including a seizure disorder, serious and chronic insomnia, hypersensitivity to light and other sensory input, plus cognitive deficiencies. She also has a degenerative disc disease that limits her ability to lift heavy items and perform various activities.

"Despite her disabilities ... Donnellan was able to perform the essential functions of her job satisfactorily or better and or was generally accommodated for the majority of the time she worked at the restaurant by being assigned to tasks that did not exacerbate conditions, but then, as a retaliatory punishment, she would regularly be assigned to perform tasks that were difficult for her to perform as a result of her conditions," her lawsuit showed.

While working at the east side McDonald's, a male coworker "offensively touched and groped Donnellan on multiple occasions. He offensively grabbed her buttocks and waist and on one occasion, he offensively grabbed her breast. On one occasion, Donnellan's coworker ... in an intentionally exaggerated manner, looked at Donnellan's crotch, looked her in the eye, looked back at her crotch and then nodded his head while laughing," her lawsuit pointed out.

The ex-McDonald's worker contended that her manager was friends with two of the male coworkers outside of work and she "was at the nucleus of the abuse and harassment to which Donnellan was subjected. On numerous occasions, Donnellan complained to .... the general manager of the restaurant, about the harassment and egregious treatment, to which she was subjected, but (she) would just laugh and did nothing to remedy it," the lawsuit outlined.

Finally, after Donnellan complained about the way she was treated, the Cass Street McDonald's cut her work hours to four days per week from five days a week.

"With her disabilities, Donnellan could perform the essential functions of certain positions at the restaurant satisfactorily or better," her lawyer noted. "Namely, she could work as a cashier, bag food, pour drinks and work in the drive through window.

"However, Donnellan's disabilities made it incredibly difficult for her to perform certain tasks at the restaurant such as operating the fryer, mopping and taking garbage out to the dumpsters." Still, her manager assigned her those tasks "as a retaliatory punishment if Donnellan would complain too much about the way she was being treated," her lawsuit stated.

Finally, things came to a breaking point on May 16, 2023. "Donnellan could no longer tolerate the terrible treatment to which she was subjected while working at the restaurant ... she finally ended her employment at the restaurant," Mendoza Law declared.

So far, lawyers representing McDonald's have not filed their legal response to Donnellan's Will County lawsuit.