McDonald's sues ex-CEO Steve Easterbrook over alleged sexual relationships
The company fired him last year after discovering he had a consensual relationship with an employee.
McDonald's has taken new legal action against their former chief executive Steve Easterbrook, accusing him of lying about sexual relationships with staff.
The fast food giant fired Easterbrook last year after finding out he had a consensual relationship with an employee but further investigation found the British executive had three additional relationships with staff, about which he lied to the board.
McDonald's is suing to recover his pay-off, reportedly worth $40 million (£35 million). The fast food giant prohibits "any kind of intimate relationship between employees in a direct or indirect reporting relationship".
The company also said it had evidence of only a non-physical, consensual relationship, consisting of intimate text messages and video calls when Easterbrook was removed in November.
The firm’s legal filing mentioned that it agreed to terminate Mr Easterbrook's contract "without cause", fearing a protracted legal battle. But after getting a tip from an employee in July, the fast food giant started a second investigation, which uncovered "undisputable evidence" of three other sexual relationships.
Investigators said to have found nude photographs sent from Easterbrook's company email account as well as messages showing that he approved a grant of company shares worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to one of the employees "shortly after their first sexual encounter."
Had it been aware of this information, McDonald’s said it would not have approved his multi-million dollar pay-off, explaining that it did not initially find the photos and messages because Easterbrook had deleted them from his phone. The second investigation also searched company servers.
McDonald’s also said Easterbrook violated his duty to the company by lying when asked about his behaviour in an effort to secure a bigger severance package, committing fraud.
