McDonald's turned me into a prostitute: Woman's bizarre claim in lawsuit against burger joint

A woman has launched a lawsuit against McDonald's claiming the fast food giant turned her into a prostitute.



Shelley Lynn, from California, says the burger joint should have protected her against her 'predatory' ex-husband and former boss Keith Handley.

Mr Handley hired her to work behind the counter 30 years ago at his franchise in Arroyo Grande before t he pair began dating five years later.

Shelley Lynn got her job behind the counter at McDonald's 30 years ago before becoming a prostitute. She blames the burger giant and her ex-husband, who ran the franchise she was employed in

But when Ms Lynn lost her job the relationship - and her life - started to break down.



Lynn said Handley, who still runs the franchise, forced her termination to make her more vulnerable to his demands.

She blames McDonald's for putting her at the mercy of a company that provided no protections for female employees against predatory bosses.

Ms Lynn is also suing Handley and his restaurant company Ivernia in California Central District Court.

Ms Lynn says that Handley, who still runs the franchise, forced her termination to make her more vulnerable to his demands.

'McDonald's had no policy in place whereby Lynn could have filed a grievance against Handley, Ivernia, and McDonald's,' she said in the filed court documents.

Ms Lynn filed her papers to California Central District Court (pictured) naming McDonald's in her lawsuit

Ms Lynn said Handley lied when he said he would help her fulfill her dreams of working as a Las Vegas dancer.

He bought her a home in Vegas to live in, but then told her she'd have to get a job as a prostitute in one of the legal brothels to pay for it.

The complaint said: 'Handley then began pressuring Lynn on an almost daily basis, arguing... it was no big deal to engage in sex to make money, that she would lose her home and everything she had, which was true.'

Lynn said she took a job at the Chicken Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada, where she became a 'top booker,' required to sleep with up to 12 men a night.

Ms Lynn and Handley got married in 1988, but soon divorced.

She says Handley should never have been allowed to open his franchise and that McDonald's 'failed to conduct a due diligence into the moral character of Handley when it sold franchises to him'.

She also says McDonald's 'failed to properly supervise and train Handley,' who she accuses of running his pimping operations out of the McDonald's franchises he owned, according to the complaint.

Ms Lynn seeks lost wages, special damages, compensatory damages and punitive damages for sex trafficking, negligent retention and supervision of franchisees, and racketeering.