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A former McDonald’s manager who put the restaurant before her own family because she loved the job so much said being forced out was a bitter pill after spending more than a quarter century serving fast food.

“I put McDonald’s No. 1 and my family No. 2,” said Esther Brake, who once worked 12-hour days, seven days a week for the iconic company that prides itself on how it treats employees. “I should have spent more time with my family and not McDonald’s.”

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But now, a month after an Ottawa judge awarded Brake $104,499.33 for wrongful dismissal, the owners of the McDonald’s franchise where she last worked have launched an appeal, arguing in court documents that one of the company’s longest-serving employees wasn’t fired. The company argues she should have taken a demotion instead. The company also disagreed with the sizeable severance payment awarded by the court.

The appeal also means the 66-year-old grandmother can’t collect a penny of the court’s judgment until a ruling on the appeal, which could take a year or more.