1. DiscussEasterbrook'sfiring.Therelationshipwasonrecordbybothpartiesasbeingconsensual, and Easterbrook's tenure as CEO resulted in success for the company. Did McDonald's make the rightdecision?
2. Consider the ongoing struggle with lawsuits and protests alleging that McDonald's maintains a culture of sexual harassment and discrimination. Do you think the firing indicates that McDonald's is working on changes in its overall culture, or do you see it as a savvy PRmove?
3. How do you think companies should handle relationships between colleagues? Is an outright baneven for consensual relationshipsthe beststrategy?

case study-1

The Issue

In November, McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook was fired from his position for having a consensual relationship with a colleague that violated company policy. The following day, the company's human resources chief David Fairhurst announced his resignation in an internal memo.

Easterbrook became chief executive in March 2015 and has been credited with revitalizing and modernizing McDonald's, charting a course for the company that had its stock at an all-time highin July 2019. When he resigned, Easterbrook wrote an email to employees acknowledging his violation of company policy, which states that "employees who have a direct or indirect reporting relationship to each other are prohibited from dating or having a sexual relationship."

Why Is It News?

Thisnon-fraternizationpolicyandresultantfiringcomesinthemidstofongoingallegationsofacultureofsexual harassment and discrimination within the fast-food company. In November 2019, a class action suit was broughtagainstMcDonald'safterthreeyearsofmorethan50complaintsfromworkers.

Both parties have described the relationship as consensual, and there are no allegations of sexual harassment. However, many have called outthe former CEO's judgment, saying that he should have known better.

The Chicago-based company announced that it would launch a training program for its 850,000 U.S. employees to educate workers about harassment, as well as a free, anonymous hotline. Activist groups are demanding more accountability, saying that training is one step towards changing company culture, but that McDonald's should guarantee that workers who report harassment won't face retaliation. Organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union Women's Rights Project are insistingthat upper management spend face- to-face time with workers to discuss these issues.

OntheheelsofEasterbrook'sfiring,it'simportanttoexplorethestrategybehindthedismissalofthistide-turn- ing CEO. Is banning employees from consensual relationships indicative of a workplace that also supports workers who've reported sexual harassment? Was Easterbrook's dismissal a PR move that ultimately won't support employees who are reporting theseallegations?