It brought 13 complaints involving 78 charges against McDonald’s out of several regional offices throughout the United States including Chicago for claiming that McDonald's and its franchisees subjected employees who participated in union-related activity to discriminatory discipline, reductions in hours, discharges, and other coercive conduct as well as over-broad restrictions on communicating with union representatives or with other employees about unions and the terms and conditions of employment.
To conserve resources and to avoid delay, the NLRB consolidated the hearings to three locations in the Northeast (Manhattan), Midwest (Chicago) and West (Los Angeles) and the initial litigation will commence on March 30, 2015.
The NLRB is asserting that McDonald’s can be liable as a “joint employer” with its franchisees, despite the fact that many of the alleged violations were committed by franchise owners. Of course, McDonald’s requires its franchisees to adhere to a number of rules and regulations.