He doesn’t like it.
A McDonald’s franchisee claims the burger titan is trying to force him to sell his 37 locations because he failed to meet “national franchise standards” — and that an executive falsely accused him of planning to illegally hire migrants.
McDonald’s is “wrongly plotting” to oust George Michell and “steal the value of his businesses,” he said in a Brooklyn federal court trial against Mickey D’s and three of its executives.
Michell operates seven franchises in Brooklyn, as well as others in New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, which generated more than $158 million in revenue in 2023.
Michell, who is Hispanic, was fined $1 million in November 2022 for violating workplace rules in New York, but claims in court documents that other white franchisees fined similar companies have not faced the same pressure from McDonald’s.
He claims McDonald’s executives sat him down after his fine became public, told him they wanted him “out of the system” and urged him to sell – or they would let his franchise contracts expire without renewal, according to the legal filing.
He says he never suggested illegally hiring migrants, but was simply responding to a request from the company asking which owners would be interested in employing migrants when they were eligible.
Michell, who is seeking unspecified damages, claims in the litigation that his efforts to stay in the McDonald’s system “are being rebuffed.”
McDonald’s called the allegations “baseless” and said they “do not reflect McDonald’s commitment to fostering diverse talent and ownership within our franchise community.”
New York Post
