She will finally be able to find work. Syntia, a Mayenne native born in Château-Gontier-sur-Mayenne, has accused the McDonald’s restaurant in Segré in Maine-et-Loire of harassment since 2023, and in particular some of her colleagues and managers made transphobic comments while she was in the process of coming out and changing sex. This Monday, the Angers industrial tribunal condemned McDonald’s paying the young woman nearly 10,000 euros in damages and compensation for termination of contract. The fast food restaurant is also found guilty of moral harassment.
“She suffered”
During the hearing, the lawyer of McDonald’s pleaded clumsiness. There was no bad intention in the remarks of Syntia colleagues and managers. But the industrial tribunal of Angers “did not fall into the trap“, explains Maître Gwenola Vaubois. Her client’s trauma is still great today.
“She suffered. She’s 21 years old. This is her first professional experience and she is in gender transition. She found herself faced with an employer who required her colleagues to call her by a masculine name while she chose to assert a feminine identity. We tried to send her to the Super U next door to buy makeup remover to remove her lipstick. We are dealing with facts that are serious and extremely traumatic.“, declares the lawyer.
McDonald’s still contests
The McDonald’s franchise restaurant in Segré now has one month to appeal the industrial tribunal’s decision. In a press release, the management of the Segré restaurant “continues to contest the accusations against her and will study the follow-up to be given to this procedure. The fight against harassment and discrimination is taken with the greatest seriousness in our restaurant, as in all of the brand’s establishments. Managers and directors are regularly trained“.
