Suit: McDonald’s Late-Night Drive-Thru Policy Discriminates Against Blind People

(STMW) — (CBS CHICAGO) A blind Louisiana man has filed a class-action lawsuit against McDonald’s, claiming the Oak Brook-based fast food giant’s late-night drive-thru policy discriminates against those who can’t operate a vehicle on their own to satisfy after-hours cravings once restaurant doors are locked.

Scott Magee filed the suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, claiming that McDonald’s violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by prohibiting visually impaired pedestrians from ordering at drive-thru windows after restaurant lobbies are closed.

Instead, Magee says, “blind people must hope for a companion with a car or paid taxi services to assist them in selecting and purchasing McDonald’s food.”

McDonald’s representatives could not immediately be reached for comment Friday evening.

The suit says that while McDonald’s has proved to be an innovative company — noting its customizable burger options, two-lane drive-thrus and, “to the awe of McDonald’s aficionados everywhere,” an all-day breakfast menu — they have shown no “concern whatsoever for the accessibility of their late night drive-thrus to the disabled.”

When Magee tried to order on foot late at a McDonald’s drive-thru after the lobby had closed one night in August 2015 near his home in Metairie, Louisiana, the employees “refused service to him, laughed, and told him to go away,” the suit says.

He suffered the same experience on other occasions and “felt ashamed of his inability to access the McDonald’s services,” the suit says.

The two-count suit seeks “auxiliary aids or services” to accommodate the blind, plus an unspecified amount of money in court costs and damages

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2016. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)