A McDonald's franchise has reportedly settled a dispute with workers who say they were forced to wear face masks made out of "dog diapers."
The lawsuit, filed in June 2020, accused bosses at the Telegraph Avenue store in Oakland of failing to take the most basic precautions to protect the health and safety of the employees.
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One of the more egregious actions, according to the lawsuit, was failing to provide workers with adequate personal protective equipment. Instead, the workers say they were given masks that were made out of dog diapers and coffee filters.
After workers complained, the restaurant provided disposable
masks "but required workers to use them for multiple days, instructing employees to wash and reuse them until they fell apart," according to the lawsuit.
"We were being treated like dogs — giving us dog diapers to use as masks," worker Angely Rodriguez Lambert told the New York Times. "We are not dogs."
The suit went on to claim that the franchise owner's inattention to safety resulted in a COVID-19 outbreak among workers and their families. At least 11 employees were infected while working at the restaurant, according to the complaint, which led to an outbreak that sickened at least 25 people, including a worker's 10-month-old child.
The franchise owner recently came to an agreement with the workers to settle the lawsuit. As part of the settlement, which was reported by the New York Times, the restaurant has agreed to enforce a variety of safety measures, including social distancing, contact tracing and paid sick leave policies.
Owner Michael Smith denied all accusations, telling the newspaper that he started implementing safety measures "over a year ago" and that management would "continue to take all necessary steps to ensure that our stores remain as safe as possible."
It's not known whether the settlement included any financial compensation.
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