Friday, a jury awarded $6.1 million to a 21-year-old Kentucky woman who, three and a half years ago, was strip-searched by the (female) assistant manager of the McDonald's where she worked – and the assistant manager's boyfriend – after somebody claiming to be a police officer phoned the restaurant, claimed the young woman had stolen from a customer, and demanded that she be strip-searched in order to find the stolen items.

The lawsuit against McDonald's claims the young woman was also forced to perform "sexual acts" during the search, and the assistant manager's boyfriend has already been sentenced to five years in prison for sexually abusing her during the search.

The assistant manager, who along with her boyfriend claimed she was only following what she believed was a legitimate order by a police officer, was sentenced to probation – and while she was a defendant in this lawsuit, along with McDonald's, the jury ruled that she was not liable for damages.

The remarkable thing about all this is that it's not an isolated incident: Though there's no official count of how many times somebody has phoned fast-food restaurants claiming to be a police officer and ordering that an employee (always a young female) be stripped-searched, I personally have written about at least fifteen such cases over the past ten years.

And this was part of the basis for the lawsuit: Though you wouldn't think this would be necessary, McDonalds (and Burger King and Wendy's) should inform their managers, as a matter of course, that they should never strip-search an employee on the orders of an anonymous phone caller who claims to be a police officer.

... read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.