(1) INTRODUCTION:   FitzGerald v. McDonald's Corporation

          John P. FitzGerald is a former white McDonald's manager.  He has filed a reverse discrimination lawsuit against McDonald's Corporation as of May 28, 2002.

          FitzGerald was a loyal and hardworking McDonald's employee for 18 years.  He began his McDonald's career in 1983 as an Accounting Center Supervisor.  He was promoted into his last and final job as Real Estate Manager in 1998, and maintains that he was terminated from that position without cause in 2001 -- at which point his job was given to a black female.

FitzGerald's lawsuit against McDonald's includes the following allegations:

• McDonald's repeatedly denied FitzGerald job opportunities because he is white, and McDonald's ultimately wrongfully terminated him because of his skin color.

• McDonald's maintains a discriminatory racial quota program which offers extremely favorable terms and financing for black franchisees.   These terms and financing are not available to whites and other non-minorities.  

• FitzGerald was repeatedly told he could not be hired for certain jobs within McDonald's because those jobs had been reserved exclusively for non-whites.  (McDonald's calls these quota-jobs "diversity positions".)

• FitzGerald believes he was ultimately fired because McDonald's wanted his position to go to a black female.

• Mr. FitzGerald was fired as a real estate manager in McDonald's Raleigh, N.C., region in February 2001 and replaced by a black female, according to the lawsuit, which was filed last week in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

• FitzGerald was denied "separation services" (such as outplacement, counseling, etc.) following his termination by McDonald's while such services were offered on a preferential basis to minority employees.

The lawsuit was filed in United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, docket 02C 3772 as of May 28, 2002.

Sidebar:  As of June 4, 2002, the McDonald's Corporation official web site portrays itself as decidedly hostile to the concept of color blind employment and promotion opportunities.  For public excerpts of McDonald's Diversity policies click (3) McDonald's Public Diversity Statements and Policies in the left index.

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