McDonald's Faces Lawsuit For Allegedly Firing Man With Autism For 'Shaky' Hands
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NORTH MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- A North Miami McDonald's franchise is facing an anti-discrimination lawsuit after allegedly firing an employee, with autism, for his "shaky hands."
That's according to the sister of 19-year-old Alex Martinez who recently posted two pictures of her brother on Twitter on Dec. 2. Her tweet lashed out at McDonald's claiming, "My brother was fired from McDonald's slowly based off discrimination. He has mild autism and was super excited about starting his first day. Not even a week in and they let him go. Their reasoning? His hands were a little too shaky when he gets anxious."
my brother was fired from mcdonald's slowly based off discrimination. he has mild autism and was super excited about starting his first day. not even a week in and they let him go. their reasoning? "his hands were a little too shaky when he gets anxious" @McDonalds pic.twitter.com/bNvnnYFb2i
— solely (@kiniii_) December 2, 2017
He didn't even work there a full week.
Her post has been retweeted more than 81,000 times and has nearly 3000 comments.
Thursday afternoon, Angelica Martinez and Alex joined their attorney Matthew J. Blit in front of the McDonald's, located at 11988 NW 7th Avenue in North Miami to protest his firing.
Anthony Greenwood Sr. – the owner and operator of the franchise – denies the allegations. He released a statement, which reads:
"Treating all people with respect is a top priority in our restaurants. We want everyone who comes to our restaurant to enjoy a positive experience, which includes both employees and customers. We have zero-tolerance for harassment or discrimination of any kind, and we have a long-standing history of hiring and accommodating employees with disabilities. In fact, some of our longest-term and most-valued employees are individuals with disabilities. Over the past few days, we have been looking into this occurrence to fully understand what took place last week. Importantly, we did not terminate Mr. Martinez. Although, to date, Mr. Martinez has been a no-show for his two scheduled shifts this week. We are continuing to look into this matter and ask for your patience while we try to further understand the situation at hand."