Two black McDonald's employees say they were FIRED by their Florida store in retaliation for suing the company for racial discrimination as fast food giant faces similar lawsuit in Illinois

Two black McDonald’s employees who filed a federal lawsuit against the company over the summer alleging racial discrimination have been fired as three others took similar legal action against the fast-food maker in Illinois.

Monica Scott, 34, and Augustus ‘Gus’ Moody, 33, are two of three plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed in July against the McDonald’s Corporation.

Scott, Moody, and Faith Booker, 32, all of Polk County, Florida, allege that they were victimized by the general manager of a company-owned branch in Lakeland who made racist comments and gave them menial tasks.

The manager is alleged to have said that ‘it’s always black people who want free stuff’ and that blacks are ‘aggressive and trying to fight’ and ‘all they want to do is smoke weed.’

The plaintiffs alleged that their hours were cut while maintaining the hours of other workers and that they were fired after having been forced to quarantine because they were exposed to someone with COVID-19.

McDonald’s has denied that the company fired the employees in retaliation for their lawsuit.

Monica Scott, 34, and Augustus ‘Gus’ Moody, 33, two of three workers at the McDonald's restaurant in Lakeland, Florida , who filed a federal lawsuit in July, said they were fired by the company last month as retaliation against them for taking legal action

‘McDonald’s is committed to leading with values and does not tolerate retaliation,’ the company said in a statement.

‘The allegations that employees were terminated for any reason related to ongoing litigation is categorically false.’

The initial lawsuit said that the experiences of the three workers 'are particularly egregious examples of the serious harm that occurs when a corporation fails to take responsibility for the discriminatory conduct of its managers and thus permits an environment of pervasive and intentional racial discrimination to take hold at one of its corporate owned and operated restaurants.'

According to an amendment to the lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Scott was fired on the day that she returned to work after taking COVID-19 leave last month.

‘She was unable to get in to work one day because of car trouble,’ Scott’s lawyer, Eve Cervantez, told the Tampa Bay Times.

‘As you can imagine, McDonald’s doesn’t normally fire employees for car trouble.’

Scott was fired on September 27. Moody was let go 10 days earlier for what the lawsuit alleges was ‘insubordination.’

Moody was ‘set up for failure’ and cited for minor offenses like missing a name tag, according to the lawsuit.

The company also forced Moody to take two leaves of absence because of possible exposure to COVID-19.

‘They are seeking reinstatement,’ said Cervantez.

‘They would like to go back and work at McDonald’s if McDonald’s would treat them properly.’

Selynda Middlebrook, one of the plaintiffs in the Illinois lawsuit, alleges that she was called a ‘waste of space that should not exist’ by a manager at the Rock Island restaurant where she worked

In the original lawsuit, the employees claimed that during the 'Thank You Meals' promotion McDonald's ran from April 22 to May 5, offering a free meal for essential workers during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the manager asked black customers to show proof of frontline employment. 

The manager allegedly didn't require any ID checking for white essential workers, however. 

Moody, who works as a cook at the McDonald's restaurant, said that on one occasion he had asked for help at the grill because the orders were beginning to stack up during peak hours. 

He said that he was sent home for the rest of his shift, without pay, after being told that he was unable to do his job.  

The three workers who filed the lawsuit said that the manager had cut their working hours in half, although non-black employees were still working nearly 40 hours a week.   

They claimed that the manager told them that the work hour reduction was due to coronavirus, but they said that the location is actively seeking new hires.       

'I’m a mother, raising my children on just $9.25 an hour,' Scott told the Tampa Bay Times. 

'When my hours were cut, it didn’t just affect the size of my wallet, it put my livelihood and my children’s well-being in jeopardy. I can’t afford to lose pay or work, and now I’ve had to cut back on how much I eat to make sure there’s enough for my kids.'

Scott said that she had to take on a second job after her hours were cut. 

The workers said that they experienced retaliation from the manager after they presented a petition to management on Juneteenth, the anniversary of slaves' emancipation in the US.

The petition stated that 'Employees who are treated unfairly aren’t allowed to achieve workplace success to their fullest potential.'

It also said: 'Allowing workplace unfairness to continue sends the message to employees that this type of behavior is acceptable. We demand management takes steps to keep all employees feeling respected and treated as equals while building a positive work environment.'

According to the three workers, they were told to leave the restaurant. 

Scott said that she was told to scrub garbage cans at a later time, while Moody said that he was given a low performance review which derailed his chances at getting a promotion.

Trina Gendron, a McDonald’s franchisee who owns the Rock Island, Illinois, location, told DailyMail.com: ‘I am deeply committed to running a values-led organization, and discrimination, harassment or retaliation of any kind are not tolerated in my restaurants.'

Both Scott and Moody said that their efforts to address the situation with human resources at the corporate level failed. 

Cervantez is working in concert with attorneys representing three McDonald’s employees in Rock Island, Illinois, who filed their own lawsuit on Tuesday.

‘Florida is thus not an isolated incident, but is instead symptomatic of a pattern or practice of McDonald’s corporate leadership’s failure to address pervasive racism and anti-Black sentiment throughout the organization,’ the Tampa lawsuit alleges.

Selynda Middlebrook, one of the plaintiffs in the Illinois lawsuit, alleges that she was called a ‘waste of space that should not exist.’

Managers at the Rock Island McDonald’s are also alleged to have referred to black employees and customers as ‘ghetto, lazy and smelly.’

'When McDonald’s says "Black Lives Matter," those words are hollow because if black lives matter to McDonald’s, and as a black mother, I shouldn't have been discriminated against and told that I shouldn’t exist,' Middlebrook told KWQC-TV. 

'That’s why I’m coming forward today to make my voice heard. 

'McDonald’s needs to do more than say "Black Lives Matter." 

'McDonald’s needs to show us, and that starts in its stores and with black employees.' 

When asked to comment on the allegations, Trina Gendron, a McDonald’s franchisee who owns the Rock Island location, told DailyMail.com: ‘I am deeply committed to running a values-led organization, and discrimination, harassment or retaliation of any kind are not tolerated in my restaurants.

‘I take these allegations seriously and am currently reviewing the complaint and investigating these allegations.’ 

Stephanie Stevens and Luther Gray are the other two plaintiffs named in the lawsuit. Gray is suing on behalf of his two teenage daughters who work at the Rock Island restaurant.

McDonald's is one of the major American corporations that has publicly thrown its support behind the Black Lives Matter campaign, creating a 60-second ad memorializing black people who were killed by police or fatally shot while unarmed in early June. 

The fast food giant also said it was donating $1million to racial justice organizations the National Urban League and the NAACP.