Lawsuit spotlights ADA interactive process and FMLA notice gaps during a franchise handover
McDonald's faces a federal lawsuit alleging it fired a kitchen worker after she took leave for colon cancer surgery.
A former kitchen worker at an Illinois McDonald's says the company forced her out after she disclosed a colon cancer diagnosis and took time off to have surgery. The complaint, filed May 25, 2026 in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, lays out a fact pattern that lands squarely on two pieces of HR machinery: the ADA's interactive process and the FMLA's notice rules.
Claudia Vasquez worked as kitchen staff from around 2021 until her termination on or about December 1, 2025, according to the filing. Her duties were standard back-of-house work - food prep, cleaning, inventory.
In September 2025, Vasquez told her general manager about the diagnosis and handed over a medical note flagging surgery scheduled for October 14, the complaint says. Her time off was approved. But she says she was never given leave paperwork, never walked through her FMLA rights, and never invited into a conversation about what she might need on return. By her account, she had worked at the restaurant long enough and enough hours to qualify for FMLA - at least 12 months and 1,250 hours in the preceding year.
The store then changed hands. On or about October 10, 2025 - four days before surgery - the location flipped from corporate-owned to franchise-owned, according to the filing. Vasquez told the new owner she would be out for surgery and says she was told it would not be a problem.
Around the same time, she asked McDonald's Corporate for a transfer so she could keep her medical insurance during treatment. The complaint alleges the company brushed off the request, saying there were people worse off than her, and refused to honor it.
The return-to-work piece is where the case gets sharpest for HR readers. On or about December 1, when Vasquez came back with medical restrictions, an assistant manager told her there were no hours available, the filing states. She was offered one day of work after previously being full-time. She said it was not enough. She was told someone would call. No one did. She was never scheduled again, and was terminated.
Vasquez brings four ADA claims - discrimination, failure to accommodate, harassment and retaliation - plus two FMLA claims for interference and retaliation. She is seeking back pay, front pay, lost benefits, compensatory and punitive damages, liquidated damages, and attorneys' fees.
For HR leaders, two things stand out. First, the complaint describes a leave approval that never became a designated leave - a gap the FMLA's notice rules are specifically designed to close. Second, it describes an accommodation request, a transfer request tied to insurance, and a return-to-work conversation, none of which the company allegedly handled through a structured interactive process.
The franchise handover adds a third question worth asking inside any multi-site HR function: when a location changes operators mid-leave, who owns the accommodation conversation, who holds the paperwork, and who is on the hook for what was promised before the transition?
The allegations have not been tested in court. McDonald's has not yet filed a response, and no court has ruled on the claims.
