Fast Food Businesses + Teenage Workers=Recipe for Harassment Issues

If you read the EEOC statement carefully, it was the managerial supervisor that allegedly did the harassing of the young workers … not the other way around.

A couple of suggestions for fast food businesses to minimize risk from such incidents, which to some degree may be inevtable facts of life for such businesses:

1) In a harassment policy, do not provide the option of complaining to in-store supervisors about harassment. Complaints should go directly to corporate HR and/or other central management. In-store supervisors are too likely to fail to take appropriate action.

2) Post the policy conspicuously, with names and phone numbers to call with complaints.

3) Spot check the work environment. Eons ago, when I worked at a McDonalds, store managers lived in fear of the secret shoppers who would arrive incognito and pose as regular customers, leaving detailed scorecards behind. Similarly, someone from corporate could drop by unannounced and, while ordering, sitting and eating, observe the interaction between employees behind the counter. This could be followed by flashing a corporate ID and asking to have private chats with employees about subjects including whether they are having harassment problems. Sometimes with younger employees in jobs like this, it doesn’t take much to observe the likelihood that certain workers are being subjected to unwelcome conduct.