CHICAGO — When Vicki Guster-Hines and Domineca Neal filed their race discrimination lawsuit against McDonald’s in 2020, they knew that taking on the fast-food giant was going to be no easy task. The two women—both Black, and both former high-ranking and top-preforming executives of McDonald’s USA—knew better than anyone the culture they were challenging: one, according to their lawsuit, typified by intentional race discrimination, a pervasive hostile work environment, and unlawful retaliation.
“McDonald’s has the money and the power,” says Ms. Guster-Hines. “But what we have is even better: we have the truth on our side, and we have the determination to see this through and tell our stories.”
Ms. Guster-Hines and Ms. Neal have long alleged that they were subjected to racial discrimination at McDonald’s, that they were forced to endure a hostile work environment because they are Black, and that they suffered unlawful retaliation from McDonald’s because they protested against both their treatment and McDonald’s overall policies in regard to its Black employees, franchise-owners, and customers. McDonald’s has spent over six years trying to make the lawsuit go away.
Now, the two women will get their chance to tell their stories to a jury. Monday, federal judge Mary M. Rowland, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, denied, in part, McDonald’s motion for summary judgment, which essentially argued that McDonald’s did nothing wrong and that no trial was needed. While not every one of the lawsuit’s 14 counts survived summary judgement, Judge Rowland determined that Ms. Guster-Hines’ and Ms. Neal’s key claims should (and now will) be ruled upon by a federal jury. These claims included four counts that McDonald’s created a hostile work environment and two counts that McDonald’s unlawfully retaliated.
“For 33 years, I was a loyal and committed executive at McDonald’s. I worked every day to make McDonald’s a better company and an inclusive place to work,” says Ms. Guster-Hines. “In return for my efforts, McDonald’s created a harmful and hostile work environment for myself and countless other African American executives. It’s well past time for them to finally be held accountable.”
Among the incidents the court relied upon in rendering this decision were comments allegedly made by McDonald’s USA CEO Chris Kempczinski. At a 2019 meeting between Kempczinski and Black Executives representing the Black employee group, Kempczinski reportedly told that group that McDonald’s was not committed to racial diversity and that most of the Black Executives in the audience deserved to have lower-ranking positions than the ones they actually held. Judge Rowland also pointed to “racist and offensive” comments made by another McDonald’s supervisor, including the use of the “well-rooted racial stereotype” of “angry Black women” and Plaintiffs along with their Black women peers having “Black woman attitude[s].”
A federal jury will hear about alleged violations of Ms. Guster-Hines’ and Ms. Neal’s civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (which protects the equal right of all persons to make and enforce contracts without respect to race), and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
“We’re looking forward to proving our claims at trial,” said attorney Jon Loevy, of the civil rights law firm of Loevy + Loevy, which represents both plaintiffs.
“McDonald’s works really hard to represent themselves as a friend to the Black community,” says attorney Heather Lewis Donnell. “However, from what our clients experienced and witnessed, discrimination is evident at every level of this company, starting at the very top and filtering down all the way to the average customer.”
Ms. Guster-Hines and Ms. Neal’s lawsuit is far from the only accusation of racial discrimination brought against the McDonald’s company in recent years. Early in 2025, the company’s announcement that it was scaling back its commitment to diversity initiatives drew controversy and calls for a boycott. A few months later, McDonald’s settled a lawsuit about racial stereotyping and the exclusion of Black media advertising opportunities for an undisclosed amount. And, in the wake of Ms. Guster-Hines’ and Ms. Neal’s revelations, more than 40 Black former McDonald’s franchisees collectively sued McDonald’s for unfair policies, unequal treatment, and illegal discrimination.
“In shocking ways difficult to overstate,” the complaint alleges, “McDonald’s under [McDonald’s Corporation CEO Mark] Easterbrook and Kempczinski declared war against the African American community.”
The trial is currently scheduled for September 2026, and both women are looking forward to getting their day in court.
“When we voiced our concerns internally and presented solutions to improve the culture, McDonald’s liked to dismiss us as just ‘angry Black women,’” Neal says. “Well, we’re looking forward to what a federal jury has to say about these same concerns.”
Ms. Guster-Hines and Ms. Neal are represented by attorneys Jon Loevy, Heather Lewis Donnell, Brian Morris, and Lindsay Hagy of Loevy + Loevy.
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For a copy of the complaint, click here.
Link to this release on Loevy’s website here.
Contact:
Jon Loevy, Partner, 617.596.6349, jon@loevy.com
Brian Morris, Attorney, 859.408.6382, morris@loevy.com
Michael McDunnah, Dir. of Comms, 312.371.5871, mcdunnah@loevy.com