Down in Orlando, 17-year-old Zikerria Bellamy applied for a job at a local McDonald's. Filling out the application, she purposefully did check the box where it asked whether the applicant is male or female; it stated, near the gender question, that "failure to respond will not subject you to adverse treatment." Yet when Bellamy was interviewed, she says the manager forced her to check a box that would indicate her gender.
"Once I looked at his facial expression, when I checked off male, like the whole face just changed. He was upset. I seen the anger, you know, like you can tell when someone gets upset." Later on, she received a voice-mail from the manager that said, part:
"You will not get hired. We do not hire (expletive). You lied to me. You told me you were a woman."
That particular McDonald's has now released a statement saying:
"Sand Lake Road McDonald’s has a strict policy prohibiting any form of discrimination or harassment in hiring, termination, or any other aspect of employment in the organization. The restaurant requires all employees to comply with local, state and federal employment laws."
"The behavior of the individual in question is not reflective of the employment policies in the organization. Further, this individual acted outside the scope of his authority and was not responsible for hiring. The individual in question is no longer employed by the restaurant."
Bellamy is considering filing a lawsuit after the restaurant allegedly refused to interview her for a possible job. "I'm angry. I'm hurt," she said. "You shouldn't judge someone based on who they are."
No, we shouldn't, but it happens all the time, to gay people, people of color, the elderly, women, teenagers; we are, at times, too quick to judge based on appearance alone. Hopefully, this man who left that voicemail, and others, have learned something.
Rather than suing, what she SHOULD do is go back to the same location and inquire about getting hired, and see if the Mickey D's puts their money where their Big Mac is. If she is denied employment for any non-valid reason, THEN she has reason to sue.
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