The lawsuit entered by Karen Tumeh against McDonald's revolves around the refusal of a Lincoln, Nebraska McDonald's franchise to permit her to place a food order at the drive-thru window. Tumeh is hearing-impaired and despite her use of hearing aids, cannot hear to order at the drive-thru (Hearing-impaired woman..., 2008). The lawsuit is based on Tumeh's reading of the Americans with Disabilities Act which mandates that many accommodations be made in public facilities, including privately owned businesses, to facilitate access by individuals with a wide variety of disabilities. As noted by Meiners, Ringleb, and Edwards (1994), the Act has resulted in many modifications to a variety of different facilities. Additionally, the Act impacts upon accommodating the disabled in workplaces (Miller & Jentz, 2000).
The ethical issues raised in this case center on the legal question of whether or not McDonald's has made adequate efforts to accommodate its disabled customers and whether the specific McDonald's franchise should have permitted Tumeh to order food at the drive-thru window. Ethically, Calvi and Coleman (2004) make the case that businesses which accommodate disabled patrons are more likely to be regarded as exhibiting social responsibility. The Americans with Disabilities Act is a normative legal framework which provides a mechanism for determining what constitutes fair and equitable treatment for the disabled.
The McDonald's issue highlights the necessity of developing flexible service policies that would permit an individual like Tumeh to order food at the window rather than at the communication point in the drive-thru. Given that other McDonald's restaurants in the Lincoln area have accommodated Tumeh in this way, it is clear that the franchise possesses sufficient flexibility to meet her needs. It is unethical for this particular franchise to require Tumeh to go inside the restaurant to order. This denies her ...