McDonald’s says terms of former CEO’s separation based on fraudulent statements

(Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp said on Monday former Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook’s motion against the company should be dismissed, reiterating that the terms of his separation from the company were based on fraudulent statements.

Easterbrook responded on Aug. 14 to McDonald’s lawsuit, which claimed that the former CEO had covered up and lied about sexual relationships with at least three employees while negotiating his severance package.

McDonald’s said in a filing on Monday that it had dismissed Easterbrook based on his denial of having had a sexual relationship with any other employee and the absence of contradictory evidence on his phone.

In his response to McDonald’s lawsuit, Easterbrook had claimed that the company had information about his relationships when it negotiated his severance package, adding that he deleted evidence from his company phone, but the evidence remained in the company e-mail account stored on the firm’s servers.

“When McDonald’s investigated, Steve Easterbrook lied. He violated the company’s policies, disrespected its values, and abused the trust of his co-workers, the Board, our franchisees, and our shareholders,” a company spokesman said on Monday.

(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla, Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)