<p>Eight months had passed since McDonald’s fired its chief executive, Steve Easterbrook, for sexting with a subordinate. Easterbrook had apologized and walked away with tens of millions in compensation, and the fast food chain had moved on under a new chief executive.</p>.<p>Then, last month, a McDonald’s employee made a fresh allegation: Easterbrook had a sexual relationship with another subordinate while he was running the company.</p>.<p>That accusation has now ignited a rare public war between a major company and its former leader: McDonald’s filed a lawsuit on Monday against Easterbrook, accusing him of lying, concealing evidence and fraud.</p>.<p>The lawsuit, filed in state court in Delaware, claims that Easterbrook carried on sexual relationships with three McDonald’s employees in the year before his ouster and that he awarded a lucrative batch of shares to one of those employees. McDonald’s said it was seeking to recoup stock options and other compensation that the company last fall allowed Easterbrook to keep — a package worth more than $40 million, according to Equilar, a compensation consulting firm.</p>.<p>The lawsuit represents an extraordinary departure from the traditional disclose-it-and-move-on decorum that American corporations have often embraced when confronted with allegations of wrongdoing by senior executives.</p>.<p>In the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter eras, more companies are striving to position themselves as good corporate citizens, responsible not only to shareholders but also to customers, employees and society at large. Easterbrook’s successor at McDonald’s, Chris Kempczinski, has called for a new corporate emphasis on integrity, inclusion and supporting local communities.</p>.<p>“McDonald’s does not tolerate behavior from any employee that does not reflect our values,” Kempczinski wrote in an internal memo reviewed by The New York Times.</p>.<p>A lawyer for Easterbrook didn’t respond to requests for comment on Monday.</p>.<p>McDonald’s lawsuit also raises new questions, however, about how diligent it was in looking into Easterbrook’s conduct before dismissing him with a generous compensation package. It acknowledges, for instance, that the initial review did not include a thorough search of the executive’s email account.</p>.<p>“One would think that it would be internal investigation 101 to look at all electronic records right away,” said Brandon L. Garrett, a professor who specializes in corporate criminal law at Duke University School of Law. “The concern, if an investigation doesn’t look at emails, is that it was a halfhearted investigation.”</p>
<p>Eight months had passed since McDonald’s fired its chief executive, Steve Easterbrook, for sexting with a subordinate. Easterbrook had apologized and walked away with tens of millions in compensation, and the fast food chain had moved on under a new chief executive.</p>.<p>Then, last month, a McDonald’s employee made a fresh allegation: Easterbrook had a sexual relationship with another subordinate while he was running the company.</p>.<p>That accusation has now ignited a rare public war between a major company and its former leader: McDonald’s filed a lawsuit on Monday against Easterbrook, accusing him of lying, concealing evidence and fraud.</p>.<p>The lawsuit, filed in state court in Delaware, claims that Easterbrook carried on sexual relationships with three McDonald’s employees in the year before his ouster and that he awarded a lucrative batch of shares to one of those employees. McDonald’s said it was seeking to recoup stock options and other compensation that the company last fall allowed Easterbrook to keep — a package worth more than $40 million, according to Equilar, a compensation consulting firm.</p>.<p>The lawsuit represents an extraordinary departure from the traditional disclose-it-and-move-on decorum that American corporations have often embraced when confronted with allegations of wrongdoing by senior executives.</p>.<p>In the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter eras, more companies are striving to position themselves as good corporate citizens, responsible not only to shareholders but also to customers, employees and society at large. Easterbrook’s successor at McDonald’s, Chris Kempczinski, has called for a new corporate emphasis on integrity, inclusion and supporting local communities.</p>.<p>“McDonald’s does not tolerate behavior from any employee that does not reflect our values,” Kempczinski wrote in an internal memo reviewed by The New York Times.</p>.<p>A lawyer for Easterbrook didn’t respond to requests for comment on Monday.</p>.<p>McDonald’s lawsuit also raises new questions, however, about how diligent it was in looking into Easterbrook’s conduct before dismissing him with a generous compensation package. It acknowledges, for instance, that the initial review did not include a thorough search of the executive’s email account.</p>.<p>“One would think that it would be internal investigation 101 to look at all electronic records right away,” said Brandon L. Garrett, a professor who specializes in corporate criminal law at Duke University School of Law. “The concern, if an investigation doesn’t look at emails, is that it was a halfhearted investigation.”</p>