Threatened, hit and yelled at: Alleged systematic bullying claims land McDonald’s franchisee in Federal Court for second time

A McDonald’s franchisee is facing their second lawsuit in less than a month, this time over claims about a Murray Bridge manager.

Pushing a teenage employee, punching equipment and threatening workers against joining a union are some of the allegations against an embattled McDonald’s franchisee facing its second lawsuit in less than a month.

The allegations are part of a Federal Court class action by more than 20 workers – launched by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) – seeking damages for incidents over a five-year period.

In a separate action, the franchisee – Delbridge Investments Pty Ltd – has also been sued for allegedly underpaying more than 50 workers.

Delbridge Investments owned the Rundle Mall East, Trinity Gardens, Murray Bridge and Kings Park restaurants but recently exited the McDonald’s system.

The statement of claim alleges that between April 2015 and August 2020 a senior employee at the Murray Bridge outlet struck, verbally threatened and intimidated employees.

Jessica St Clair, Heather Hammond, Ariana Rigney and Emma Piazza are current or former workers of the restaurant, and are part of the class action. Picture Simon Cross

It is alleged that on more than 30 occasions he belittled employees, calling them “useless, not worth what you are paid”, yelled aggressively and threatened to reduce their hours and dismiss or demote employees.

The senior employee allegedly “aggressively physically pushed” Ariana Rigney, then aged 15, according to the documents, in multiple separate incidents between 2017 and 2018. The incidents allegedly left bruises on her arm.

According to the statement of claim, Ms Rigney complained to the store manager at the time, who allegedly told her she “couldn’t say ‘no’ because he (the senior employee) was the boss”. According to the statement of claim, Ms Rigney and her mother then complained formally to the senior employee.

He then allegedly told Ms Rigney she could be disciplined for what she said “if he wanted to”.

She was subsequently not rostered to work for two to three months.

Ms Rigney, who worked at McDonald’s from 2017 to 2020, said the incident left her “scared and shaken” to go to work.

McDonald’s Murray Bridge manager Matthew North spoke to The Advertiser in April. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

In another incident, the senior employee allegedly “violently punched equipment” when yelling at an employee, Matthew North, over a “minor workplace issue” in mid-2020, the court documents say.

Another employee, Heather Hammond, was allegedly called “a f**king liar” by the senior employee, who also kicked boxes, for sharing chips with a co-worker.

The documents allege that in more than a dozen incidents, the senior employee slammed doors, threw and broke equipment, and punched and kicked tables.

It will also be alleged that when several staff members were to be promoted to managerial positions, they were pressured to leave the SDA.

An internal investigation into the allegations at the Murray Bridge store was launched following a social media survey posted by the SDA, to which several past employees responded.

The senior employee was stood down from his position in August last year, according to an email from Delbridge Investments to the SDA.

In emails between Delbridge and the SDA – which the union has given to the Sunday Mail, along with a video of one of the incidents – Delbridge said the investigation deemed the allegations of “physically aggressive and intimidating conduct and of unwelcome physical conduct were not substantiated”.

“Similarly, allegations of verbal abuse were also not substantiated. There was, however, a finding that (the senior employee) had on several occasions been disrespectful towards a number of staff members,” the email read.

Delbridge Investments was contacted for comment. A defence is yet to be filed.