After an 11-year legal battle, a transgender woman in Washington, DC was awarded $930,000 in her lawsuit over workplace discrimination at a local McDonald’s fast food restaurant.
The jury agreed with Diana Portillo Medrano that she was subjected to “a barrage of taunts, laughter, ridicule, and harassment because she is a transgender woman,” as described in the suit against the owners of the northwest DC franchise.
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The lawsuit stated that the defendants in the case — franchise owner International Golden Foods LLC (IGF) and MCI Golden Foods LLC, based in Burke, Virginia — used Medrano’s undocumented status as a pretext to fire her after she reported the serial harassment to the D.C. Office of Human Rights.
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Evidence presented during the eight-day civil trial revealed Medrano was one of many employees hired by the company without legal authorization to work in the United States. Medrano emigrated from El Salvador.
“After she formalized and elevated her complaints, defendants fired her on pretextual grounds. Defendants discriminated against Ms. Medrano because of her gender identity and retaliated against her in violation of the District of Columbia Human Rights Act,” the complaint stated.
Medrano was hired in 2011 as a customer service rep at the franchise and was recognized and promoted for her good work, the lawsuit said. Her coworkers’ treatment of her changed after she started her transition.
“Despite a successful five-year career with McDonald’s marked by raises, promotions, and awards and absence of discipline, [laintiff Diana Medrano’s supervisors and co-workers” discriminated against her ‘because she is a transgender woman,’” the lawsuit said. She was fired in 2016.
“Managers and supervisors routinely referred to her as male despite her expressed request that they respect her gender identity as female, encouraging co-workers to harass her relentlessly in like fashion,” the lawsuit stated. “When she complained to her managers, they claimed that the harassment was justified because she hadn’t legally changed her name.”
The jury awarded Medrano $700,000 in punitive damages and $230,000 for emotional distress.
“The jury clearly found that IGF continually used unauthorized employees, hired and employed unauthorized workers knowingly,” Jonathan Puth, one of Medrano’s attorneys, told the Washington Blade. “And they never fired anyone for that reason at any of their stores except for Diana.”
“They were motivated to retaliate against her because she kept complaining about discrimination,” he said.
“When you are sure of what you have experienced, no matter how much time passes, the truth will come to light,” Medrano said in a statement. “Our truth is our best weapon to achieve justice,” she said. “It is truth, justice, and faith in God that have helped me get here.”
“Diana is our hero,” Puth said following the verdict. “She stood up for her rights in the face of terrible harassment and kept fighting even after she was fired for doing so. This verdict puts other employers on notice that tolerating harassment of transgender employees is both unlawful and costly.”
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