Dozens gathered outside a McDonald’s in Saratoga Tuesday afternoon after two employees walked off the job to protest disrespectful treatment and lost wages.
Seberiana Reymundo and Maria Garcia, employees of the McDonald’s at 18578 Prospect Road, filed complaints with the San Jose Labor Commission last week that allege both workers were not paid sick leave and that Reymundo, a breast cancer survivor who was recently diagnosed with liver cancer, was discriminated against and called “useless” by management.
The group was composed of supporters, immigrant rights groups, cancer patient advocacy groups, Working Partnerships USA, SEIU and others holding signs for “Fight for $15” in reference to California’s minimum hourly wage.
Reymundo, who has worked at McDonald’s for 15 years, said in the complaint her hours were cut more than 25% after she told her manager that she can’t work at a hot grill for long periods of time while she awaits a liver transplant for her cancer treatment.
“Instead of coming to work at 5 a.m., I am told to come in at 6:30 a.m., which is a big cut to my income that I need to pay my rent and bills,” Reymundo said. “Management is also scheduling me to work later than before, until 2 p.m., although they know that I need to leave this job at 1 p.m. so I can get to my second job at another McDonald’s at 2 p.m. Even when they schedule me until 2 p.m., they often tell me to go home at 12:30 p.m., making me lose hours at both jobs.”
Lee Ann Freeman, owner and operator of the Saratoga McDonald’s, said in an email that her organization is looking into the matter.
“I care deeply for each one of my employees, and it is my expectation that they are each treated with the utmost respect at all times,” Freeman added. “I take these disturbing claims seriously.”
Reymundo said her manager told her “people with cancer smell bad,” while she was undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, and that she was not paid for sick leave that she took to receive treatment.
“They have the box with the clown to raise money for people with cancer, but they won’t pay me the sick pay that I am entitled to,” Reymundo wrote in her complaint.
Maria Garcia, who filed the complaint with Reymundo, said management did not provide sick pay for a day she had to miss while caring for her sick daughter. She said she still has not received those wages five months later.
The complaint alleges that McDonald’s owes a total of nearly $5,000 in back pay and penalties for wage theft from both employees. Workers said this incident was part of a long history of disrespectful behavior, and said management failed to provide paid leave for those sick with COVID-19.
In January 2021, a separate worker at that location filed a complaint with CalOSHA, Santa Clara County Public Health and Santa Clara County OSLE after a manager allegedly told the employee they had to come to work despite not feeling well.
After testing positive for COVID-19, the worker said they were not paid quarantine wages. In August 2021, another worker said they didn’t get quarantine pay and filed complaints.
Those who attended the rally also voiced their support for Assembly Bill 257, which would create a Fast Food Sector Council. The bill would allow workers to help set standards for health and safety across the fast food industry and hold giant corporations accountable. The bill advanced to the California State Senate after the State Assembly passed it in January.
“This is not a McDonald’s problem; this is a fast food industry problem. All the corporations from the fast food industry do the same thing,” Brandon Weaver, a representative from state Sen. Dave Cortese’s office, said.