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Phillips noted Brake had a decade’s worth of excellent performance reviews before receiving her first negative review in November 2011. Following that review, she was transferred full-time to the Walmart McDonald’s from another McDonald’s restaurant on Hazeldean Road.

The Walmart McDonald’s location Brake was given to turn around was doing particularly poorly, the judge found. It had failed eight out of 12 times on an internal metric used by McDonald’s to measure quality, service and cleanliness and ranked 1,410 out of 1,437 McDonald’s in the country.

Known for its high turnover and smaller staff, the Walmart location Brake inherited was particularly difficult to manage, according to Phillips. Since Walmart McDonald’s stores are smaller, the manager on duty was also expected to cook, serve customers and keep the restaurant clean.

“She was transferred to a flailing branch and expected to turn it around and perform there in excess of the standards that had been accepted of her in the past,” wrote Phillips. “Not even the fact that she did ultimately manage to meet the defendant’s heightened expectations could save her in the end.”

The judge noted there was a low likelihood the now-65-year-old Brake would find a similar managerial position once she lost her job with McDonald’s.

Following her dismissal in August 2012, Brake ended up working more hours at her second job as a cashier at a Sobeys. By October, she had taken a job at Tim Hortons earning $11.25 an hour, and made attempts to start a babysitting and cleaning service. When those failed, she applied for more than a dozen different jobs, many involving supervisory duties, but with no luck.

Brake was eventually was able to secure a cashier’s job at the Home Depot that pays $12.50 an hour.

“Her knowledge and skills are mostly applicable to only the McDonald’s environment, a workplace that very much has its own unique culture, language and ways of doing things,” wrote Phillips.

In a statement through their lawyer, McKenna and his wife, the owners of the McDonald’s, said they were disappointed with the judge’s ruling, but offered Brake “the best wishes in all future endeavours.”

No decision has been made on whether they will appeal the ruling, the lawyer said.