McDonald's Loses Dutch Cheese Slice Case

[meegbear]

A McDonald's restaurant in the Dutch town of Lemmer was wrong to fire a worker who gave a colleague a free slice of cheese, a court has found.

The worker had been preparing a hamburger meal for a colleague on a break, when the colleague then asked for cheese on the burger. McDonald's argued that because the addition of cheese created another, more expensive menu item, the worker should have been charged more, and the cheese slice thus broke a company rule to not give free gifts to family, friends or colleague.

However, the court in Leeuwarden in the north of Holland ruled that the punishment was too severe and that a written warning would have been more appropriate.

"It is just a slice of cheese," said the court in a written statement.

McDonald's was ordered to pay the worker the salary for the remaining five months of her contract, which came to 4,265.47 Euros ($6,006.69).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/26/mcdonalds-loses-dutch-che_n_437482.html

[FSogol]

1. Haw-haw, A expensive slice of cheese for McDs. n/t

[Lorien]

2. McD's was obviously confused; they thought they were dealing with an uncivilized

Country!

[Orrex]

7. Don't fuck with The Hague!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. Damn Communists! How dare they? Bomb them!

:applause:

[KittyWampus]

4. It wasn't just a slice of cheese. It was one of McDonald's most precious assets. MY GOD!

a stolen slice of their cheese.

I think both the worker who stole the cheese and the one who asked for it should have been not just fired but sent to prison. They clearly conspired.

BRING BACK GOVERNMENT CHEESE!

[Orrex]

5. "McDonald's was ordered to pay the worker the salary for the remaining five months of her contract"

Her contract?

[izquierdista]

10. It's Europe

They haven't seen the wisdom in "right-to-work" there.

[Zywiec]

13. She had the "right to work" for five more months. n/t

[lame54]

6. I've heard of the hamburglar but not the cheeseburglar

[KittyWampus]

27. there's a whole website devoted to cheeseburglars>

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

[MineralMan]

8. McDonald's cheese is cheese in name only.

[surrealAmerican]

16. This was my first thought as well.

Since when do they have cheese at McDonald's? In the US it usually has to be called "pasteurized processed cheese food".

[MineralMan]

25. I think it's really

"pasteurized processed cheese food product." That's one level more unlike cheese than the one you named.

[donco6]

9. What nimrod took this to court?

For $6000? Their attorney fees had to be ten times that, at least!

[hobbit709]

11. not necessarily, this wasn't the US

[donco6]

12. Attorneys are cheaper there?

Good to know.

It's a little hard to believe that they wouldn't just settle immediately when they received the notice of filing. But whatever.

[hobbit709]

14. Maybe ,maybe not

But since workers there have more rights than here, I bet some government agency was involved

[donco6]

15. But I mean the McDonald's side.

I doubt they were represented gratis by a state agency. Why would they take this to court instead of settling with the worker? It makes no sense. How could they think they were going to win it? And what would they win from "winning?"

I just think it's stupid on their part.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

24. Keeping the rabble in their place has intrinsic value to them, I suppose. -nt

[jmowreader]

32. There's always the possibility McDonald's Holland requires lawsuits

One of the companies I've worked for bought a press that leaked air when we got it and we put many thousands of dollars into fixing all the leaks--including buying five air compressors. Naturally, the boss thought the manufacturer should be responsible for that, so he called them up.

"Sue us."
'I don't want to sue you. I just want you to reimburse me for expenses.'
"No, no, you don't understand. We'll pay it. We have no problem with that. But our corporate policy forbids us from settling out of court. So you sue us, we fly in and plead guilty, and THEN we can reimburse you."

In McDonald's Holland's case, I'm pretty sure they would do it that way because Holland has fee shifting (aka "loser pays") and they have enough staff attorneys that they can afford to lawyer you out of existence.

[donco6]

35. Interesting.

I have never heard of that, but the way it's played out, it would make sense.

Can you imagine what that would be like here?? Not being able to settle out of court?? Wow!

[closeupready]

17. Maybe the plaintiff didn't WANT to settle?

??

[donco6]

20. Hmm - maybe that's it.

Maybe they were holding out for more than the offer? But why wouldn't McD just offer more? I mean, really. How much would you pay to keep this out of the papers? It's pretty ugly for them. A fucking piece of cheese?

[closeupready]

23. Many times, I believe defendants like McDonald's pre-authorize these kinds of settlements -

for routine types of lawsuits - slip-&-fall, defective product, etc. - some amount of money, like $5,000 or $10,000. I do not know if McDonald's has standing orders for that kind of settlement, but I believe they did at one time (which came out during the infamous hot coffee lawsuit). I could very well be wrong, though.

However, even if the settlement is adequate, sometimes people will refuse to settle because they are angry and want to hurt the defendant in return, and want to generate negative PR.

[donco6]

26. That makes sense. n/t

[blue sky at night]

18. I would love to see the verdict here in the States....

me thinks it would have been different.

[nykym]

19. Another case of

Having your cheese and eating it. LOL

[LeftinOH]

21. Going to a McDonald's in Europe should be a crime -n/t

[MineralMan]

29. The Story of a French Hamburger

I was in France with an orchestra and choir, doing concerts here and there. The buses stopped, at one point, at a hypermart in France around lunchtime. There was a McDonalds. All the silly people on the bus trooped over to the McDonalds. I looked around, and saw that there was a mobile grill sort of place parked not far from where the buses had parked, so I wandered over there.

They were selling hamburgers, of all things. So, I ordered one. On about half of the big griddle in the trailer were sliced onions being cooked. The cook hand-chopped about half a pound of beef as I watched, then slapped it on the empty half of the big flatiron grill. As it was cooking, he got a copper bowl and whipped up some mayonnaise using olive oil and lemon juice. He flipped the burger patty. Then, he got out a nice-looking, big roll about 6" long and 3" wide and sliced in half.

While I drooled, the meat was getting finished cooking. Rare. When it was done, the cook slathered the roll halves with the mayonnaise, put the meat on the bun, then scooped up a big pile of caramelized onion and put that on the meat. He then wrapped the burger in a sheet of newspaper and added a pile of lovely fries that I hadn't noticed before.

I took my newspaper-wrapped burger and got back on the bus, where people were filing on with their McDonalds bags. As they ate their shitty sandwiches, I opened mine up. The aroma of grilled onions from it just filled the bus, and everyone turned around to see what I was eating. I didn't say a word.

Best. Burger. Ever. I have never eaten anything so good in my life.

[LeftinOH]

31. Now I'm hungry. After the novelty of being able to purchase beer at McD's

in Europe, US visitors should eat local -its *always* better

[MilesColtrane]

22. I'm Lovin' It!

[Javaman]

28. Next up: man steals loaf of bread to fead family sent to prison. nt

[hunter]

30. Ooops. The Netherlands is not some backwards banana republic dressed up in a fancy suit.

Where did McDonalds think they were? America?

[Enrique]

33. fucking Europeans

how can a company expect to make a profit if they let employees loot the company like this! :sarcasm:

[Swede]

34. That'd be a Royale with cheese?