Oakland McDonald’s slapped with more fines over rodent infestation

OAKLAND, Calif. ( KRON ) — In a story first covered by KRON4, a McDonald’s in Oakland was closed and fined by the health department earlier this year due to a rat infestation. Now, another government agency has fined the same fast-food restaurant.

Workers at the McDonald’s filed a complaint with Cal/OSHA and the agency responded. It cited the McDonald’s at 1330 Jackson Street in Oakland with the two new violations. KRON4 spoke with the California Fast Food Workers Union about this development.

Back in May, video captured an active rat infestation at the Oakland McDonald’s Jackson Street location. On Aug. 22, Cal/OSHA fined McDonald’s nearly $2,000 related to rodent activity. The California Fast Food Workers Union is describing this as progress.

The fines are for violations that include:

• Failing to identify and correct the unhealthy work conditions by requiring employees to clean areas caused by rodent activity in the kitchen
• Failing to provide effective training on how employees should protect themselves from rodent exposure
• Failing to ensure the workplace is maintained to prevent rodents from entering the facility

Each of the penalties were subject to a $975 fine.

“Also, this problem isn’t going to get fixed with just a fine. There is a lot of work to do,” said Maria Maldonado, statewide director of the California Fast Food Workers Union.

The union said the workers have noticed improvement at the McDonald’s and have not seen any rats recently, adding that this change was possible thanks to the workers.

KRON4 reached directly to McDonald’s regarding these fines. We have not heard back from them as of this story.

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