McDonald's

My name is Kimberly Meissner and I have worked at McDonald’s since September 2007. Upon my date of hire I stated to McDonald’s that I have a permanent right knee condition in which it makes it difficult to bend, squat and kneel. I also asked to stay out of the freezer because my knee is not stable to walk on ice. Their freezer is covered in ice and it has no mat for you to walk on. Since my date of hire I have faced much opposition during my time there. Last year we went through a major battle because they could not understand why I could not go in the freezer despite my doctor’s note and a copy of my handicapped plaquer. I constantly told all the managers about how I have to go to pain management every month, including the head manager Ron. Ron has even seen my knee scars from my three surgeries and how swollen my knee gets a times. I did not hide my knee condition and they were fully aware of my knee condition. Things finally subsided for a couple of months; however it started again when I switched from day shift to night. Things got worse on Thursday the 22 of January which ultimately end in my termination. Ernesto was the manager that evening and around nine o’clock he asked me to put in pies. Well to put in pies you have to go in the freezer and I cannot go in the freezer because I fear for my safety. I thought he asked someone to put in pies however he came back to me in twelve minutes looking for his pies. He then got upset at me for not putting pies in the oven and started to scream at me. He said that just because I have a disability that does not give me special privileges and I am required to do everything he says. He said that he lost a kidney when he was in the military fighting war and that you do not see him getting special privileges. He then pulled up his shirt to see his scar, which I don’t understand why he did that and I thought it was inappropriate. I tried to explain again about my knee and he said he did not care. He called Dona Gay and she told him that it was okay to write me up for disobeying his orders to go in the freezer. I cannot understand how they could write me up for not going in the freezer when I have a bona fide medical condition which makes it unsafe for me to go in there. Then at 10 when it was time for me to leave I asked for a copy of my write up. He was on the computer and slammed the door to the office in my face because he said he could not think with me talking to him. Then got out of the office and told me to leave and not come back because I was being disrespectful. He then stated that I had to leave in five minutes without the copy of my write up, or if I did not he was going to call the cops. He said to get the ### out and he did not want to see me again. I just don’t understand how they can be so rude and have a lack of ethics. To me you cannot write up and ultimately fire someone if they have a medical condition for why they cannot do something. I would like to have my remaining checks mailed to me because I cannot bring myself to go there. I am very emotionally distraught over this situation because I still cannot believe someone can be that mean. I have been a model employee doing everything that I can, and all I asked was that they make some reasonable accommodations which they failed to do. I graduate in May and I was trying so hard to stick out to till then by putting up with their negative attitudes.