A McDonald’s franchise owner has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the company, alleging it used nefarious tactics to push him into purchasing restaurants in Black neighborhoods with little traffic, and then forced him to sell locations after he complained of unfair treatment. Herbert Washington at one point operated 23 McDonald’s franchises across the country, the most of any Black franchisee in the country. “This situation is the result of years of mismanagement by Mr. Washington, whose organization has failed to meet many of our standards on people, operations, guest satisfaction and reinvestment,” McDonald’s said in a statement responding to the suit. Washington’s lawsuit comes just months after 52 Black franchisees of McDonald’s signed a complaint citing their locations earned $700,000 less than the locations of their white counterparts. Separately, current and former Black franchise owners accused the company of racial discrimination in two other lawsuits last year.
