McDonald's CEO forced out over 'consensual relationship' with employee

NEW YORK, United States — McDonald's announced Sunday that its president and CEO Steve Easterbrook was forced out after showing "poor judgment" by engaging in a "consensual relationship" with an employee.

He was replaced by Chris Kempczinski, the president of McDonald's USA. Kempczinski was also elected to the board of directors.

"Easterbrook... has separated from the company following the board's determination that he violated company policy and demonstrated poor judgment involving a recent consensual relationship with an employee," the company said in a statement.

"The company confirms that this leadership transition is unrelated to the company's operational or financial performance."

In an email to McDonald's employees, Easterbrook said his relationship was "a mistake" that violated company policy.


"Given the values of the company, I agree with the board that it is time for me to move on," the email said.

Joe Erlinger, president of international operated markets, will take over as head of McDonald's USA, the company said.

In its most recent earnings report, on October 22, McDonald's said profits dipped 1.8 percent in the third quarter from the year-ago period to $1.6 billion.


Revenues at the company, which has 38,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries, edged up 1.1 percent to $5.4 billion.

The fast-food giant notched a healthy 5.9 percent increase in global comparable sales, including a solid rise in the United States.

But profits were pressured by increased spending on technology and research and development.

McDonald's has invested heavily in home delivery and mobile pay initiatives in recent years, and in 2019 has unveiled a number of acquisitions to boost its drive-through operation.

'The plan is working'

Kempczinski told The Wall Street Journal on Sunday that he plans to continue the focus on technology.

"There isn't going to be some radical, strategic shift. The plan is working," he said.

Easterbrook had served as chief executive since 2015. Under his leadership, McDonald's share price doubled, but he was unable to stop a decline in sales.

Like other fast food chains, McDonald's is facing headwinds as consumers seek out healthier dining options.

Easterbrook's pay as CEO rose with McDonald's share price, which closed last week at $194. His compensation hit a peak in 2017 at $21.8 million, including $9.1 million in incentive-based pay, the Journal said.

Workplace relationships have cost a number of CEOs their jobs in recent years, and the topic has become even more sensitive amid the #MeToo movement.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and yoga apparel brand Lululemon chief Laurent Potdevin resigned from their companies in 2018 following revelations of relationships with employees.

In 2016, Priceline CEO Darren Huston stepped down for the same reason, as did BestBuy CEO Brian Dunn in 2012.

source: philstar.com

Ethics complaint filed vs Sotto over plagiarized speeches

MANILA, Philippines - Thirty seven individuals, mostly academics and bloggers, on Tuesday filed an ethics complaint against Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III over plagiarized speeches on the Reproductive Health bill.

The  22-page complaint was filed before the Senate Ethics and Privileges Committee chaired by Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano. The complainants were led by Dr. Sylvia Estrada-Claudio of the University of the Philippines' Center for Women, Antonio Contreras of the De La Salle University College of Liberal Arts, and Ateneo de Manila Political Science Department director Lisandro Claudio.

The complaint said that Sotto violated the Intellectual Property Code of Philippines, or RA 8293, and the Senate's own ethics rules.

The group formally accused Sotto of copying from blogs and writings of American blogger Sarah Pope, Marlon C. Ramirez, and Peter Engelman. He was also accused of lifting from the late US Senator Robert F. Kennedy's 1966 "Day of Affirmation" speech.

The complaint said that "to this date, respondent Sotto has not owned up to the nine (9) instances of copying without attributions included in the three parts of his en contra speech delivered on August 13 and 15, and September 5, 2012.

"Neither has he, since then, given proper attribution to any of these authors from whom these works were copied,” the complaint added.

The complaint also took Sotto to task for his insistence that plagiarism is not a crime in the Philippines. It quoted then Associate Justice, now Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, in her dissenting opinion in an earlier charge of plagiarism against Associate Justice Mariano C. Del Mundo.

"The infringement of copyright necessitates a framework for characterizing the expression of ideas as property. It thus turns on a question of whether there exists resultant harm in a form which is economically quantifiable. Plagiarism, on the other hand, covers a much wider range of acts. In defining copy right infringement, Laurie Stearns points out how ‘it is an offense independent from plagiarism, so that an action for violation of copyright – which may take on either a criminal and civil aspect, or even both – does not sufficiently remedy the broader injury inherent in plagiarism," Sereno said in her opinion as cited by the complainants. "Plagiarism, with its lack of attribution, severs the connection between the original author’s name and work. A plagiarist, by falsely claiming authorship of someone else’s material, directly assault the author’s interest in receiving credits."

Sotto has been under fire since August, when he first made the anti-RH speech in question, not only for having lifted passages from the American authors, but, more gravely, for allegedly having twisted the contexts of what they wrote, to suit his anti-RH stance.

He was then later revealed to have translated portions of a speech from the late Robert Kennedy without permission or attribution, a fact that Sotto has acknowledged but that he insists warrants no apology.

Earlier this week, the daughter of the former US senator, Kerry Kennedy, released a letter chastising Sotto for copying from her father's speech. Ms. Kennedy said she was particularly appalled that Sotto had used her father's words to support an anti-reproductive health stance, suggesting that this would have run counter to Sen. Kennedy's life and convictions.

Sotto insists that everything he has said on the Senate floor is privileged. Moreover, he has maintained that he sees nothing wrong with how he had borrowed thoughts, words, and findings from other people without attribution. He says he is ready to face his detractors and the ethics complaint lodged against him.

source: interaksyon.com