McDonald's Employee Sues And Wins

We've all seen (and raised an eyebrow at) news stories of customers suing fast food manufacturers for making them fat.

But here's a new one: an employee of McDonald's has successfully sued the company because he gained weight while working there.

The unnamed employee of a McDonald's branch in Brazil, blamed the company for his weight gain on the grounds that:
His job requirements included taste-testing food (due to frequent "mystery customer" inspections).
He was provided with free lunches - but no healthy options.

He started working for McDonald's at the age of 18, weighing a healthy 154 pounds. After twelve years, he'd gained 65lbs.

Judge Joao Filho ruled that the company should pay $17,500 to the employee. They have the right to appeal, and are reported to be considering their options.

Frankly, I'm amazed he won. A gain of 65lbs in 12 years is around 5.5lbs per year, which isn't an excessively rapid gain. If the employee had previously had a fairly active lifestyle in school, he might well have gained just as much weight by taking up a sedentary desk job.

Whether you think it's a crazy example of litigation gone mad, or a story about McDonald's getting what they deserve, this opens up debate about how much responsibility employers have for their employee's health.

If you work in a company with limited, or unhealthy food options, are they to blame if you end up overweight? If your job involves sampling foods, what measures should your employer take to ensure that this does not affect your health?

Weird fast food mcdonald's 15 Comments LOL on 2 Nov 2010

From the linked article:

The plaintiff said that because McDonald's hired undercover customers to randomly visit restaurants and report back on quality, he felt forced to taste everything on the menu to ensure the food was up to par. He said he was also given free lunches of burgers, fries and ice cream, which contributed to his excessive weight gain during the course of employment.

A) he wasn't required to taste food, but felt compelled to?

B) he was provided free lunch, which includes all menu items, so his choice to eat just the crap is McD's fault?

Given the very tiny award (less than $1500 a year) I think it speaks volumes that the judge felt sorry for the dude and wasn't really all that harsh with McD's

Reply

View the Original article