Jason J.

Rippon (ADDRESS REDACTED)

August 19, 2013 Spencer H. Lewis, Jr., Director Philadelphia District Office Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 801 Market Street, Suite 1300 Philadelphia, PA 19107-3127 Re: Charge of Employment DiscriminationRetaliation

Dear Mr. Lewis: I am writing to formally file a Charge of Employment Discrimination, and more specifically Retaliation, against my former employer, H. James Rippon Enterprises, and the following two individuals in their official capacities as officers of H. James Rippon Enterprises: H. James Rippon, the General Partner of H. James Rippon Enterprises, and Milton W. Green, III, the Supervisor of H. James Rippon Enterprises. The particulars of my Retaliation Charge are as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. My name is Jason J. Rippon, and my address and telephone number are: (REDACTED) The registered address and telephone number of H. James Rippon Enterprises are: 1325 Wyndham Road, Hummelstown, PA 17036; (PHONE # REDACTED) The business address of H. James Rippon is: 1325 Wyndham Road, Hummelstown, PA 17036. The business address of Milton W. Green, III is: 1325 Wyndham Road, Hummelstown, PA 17036. The number of employees employed by H. James Rippon Enterprises is approximately 175. H. James Rippon Enterprises is the Owner/Operator of 3 McDonalds franchises, which are located in Manada Hill, PA, Pine Grove, PA, and Shamokin Dam, PA. In his capacity as the General Partner of H. James Rippon Enterprises, H. James Rippon is responsible for the overall management and operation of the 3 McDonalds franchises, and as the Supervisor of H. James Rippon Enterprises, Milton W. Green, III is the second in command in the organizational structure of H. James Rippon Enterprises and reports directly to H. James Rippon.

Spencer H. Lewis, Jr., Director Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Page 2 August 14, 2013

8.

Approximately 4 years ago, I became employed as the General Manager of the McDonalds establishment in Manada Hill, and in this capacity, I reported directly to Milton W. Green, III. I was suspended and terminated from my position as General Manager by H. James Rippon on July 4, 2013, three days after I reported to Mr. Rippon and Mr. Green my objection and opposition to the discriminatory employment practices of my employer, H. James Rippon Enterprises. During the course of my employment as General Manager of the McDonalds establishment in Manada Hill, I became aware of numerous discriminatory employment practices of my employer, including but not limited to the following examples: (a) H. James Rippon is, and has been for the past two years since his release from a psychiatric institution, obsessed with female prostitutes, and strippers who perform exotic dances on stage and in private lap dance booths at local and out of state Gentlemens Club establishments. Mr. Rippon has on numerous occasions solicited and received sexual favors from female prostitutes. In this regard, Mr. Rippon directed Pamela Wagner, who is the General Manager of the McDonalds establishment in Shamokin Dam, to transmit sexually explicit messages on his behalf to a particular prostitute (Ms. M) on multiple occasions, both during and after the regular work hours of Ms. Wagner. Apparently, Mr. Rippon did not know how to send text messages, and he directed Ms. Wagner to send Ms. M sexually explicit text messages upon his demand, which text messages were specifically dictated by Mr. Rippon, either in person or over the telephone, to Ms. Wagner during and after her regular work hours. Mr. Rippon further directed Ms. Wagner to send herself an email of all such text messages she transmitted to Ms. M so that Ms. Wagner could make a copy thereof, during her regular work hours and utilizing company resources, to give to Mr. Rippon for his review and prurient interest. Further, when Ms. M would respond to text messages sent to her by Ms. Wagner at Mr. Rippons demand, Ms. Wagner was directed by Mr. Rippon to immediately advise him of Ms. Ms response and, in turn, to transmit Ms. M a text response dictated by him, in the event he deemed a response to be necessary. On one of many such occasions, which occurred on or about June 27, 2012, Mr. Rippon dictated to Ms. Wagner, while the two of them were sitting together in the McDonalds establishment in Shamokin Dam, a sexually explicit text message to Ms. M, and he directed Ms. Wagner to send the text message to Ms. M, which she did. This text message is set forth in Exhibit A, which is a copy of the text message sent by Ms. Wagner to Ms. M on June 27, 2012 and subsequently

9.

Spencer H. Lewis, Jr., Director Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Page 3 August 14, 2013

transmitted by Ms. Wagner to her own email address, following which a copy of the email was made by Ms. Wagner and given to Mr. Rippon per his directive. This misconduct by Mr. Rippon constituted, in my opinion, discriminatory employment practices by my employer, H. James Rippon Enterprises. (b) In his capacity as Supervisor, and at H. James Rippons request and/or demand, Milton W. Green, III regularly made travel arrangements, both for travel in Pennsylvania and out of state, for young female prostitutes with whom Mr. Rippon desired to engage in sexual liaisons, which arrangements were made by Mr. Green during his regular work hours and utilizing company resources. Further, at Mr. Rippons request and/or demand, Mr. Green regularly researched the personal and family backgrounds of young female prostitutes with whom Mr. Rippon was engaging in sexual liaisons, during Mr. Greens regular work hours and utilizing company resources, for the purpose of providing Mr. Rippon information that he could use to manipulate, intimidate and further subjugate such individuals. This misconduct by Mr. Rippon and Mr. Green constituted, in my opinion, discriminatory employment practices by my employer, H. James Rippon Enterprises. In his capacity as General Partner, H. James Rippon engaged in other misconduct creating a hostile and offensive work environment for employees of H. James Rippon Enterprises, including asking a young female employee at the McDonalds establishment in Manada Hill, inappropriate and personal questions about her body tattoos, and asking another young female employee at the same McDonalds establishment how to operate a cell phone, which conduct I believe was in the nature of grooming such employees for future sexual activity. This misconduct by Mr. Rippon constituted, in my opinion, discriminatory employment practices by my employer, H. James Rippon Enterprises. In his capacity as Supervisor, Milton W. Green, III engaged in misconduct creating a hostile and offensive work environment for employees of H. James Rippon Enterprises, including but not limited to the following examples: (i) saying to a young female employee at the McDonalds establishment in Shamokin Dam, in response to her request for a workrelated certificate evidencing her work credentials, You look great, bend over again for me. ; and (ii) making inappropriate suggestions of a sexual nature to a young female employee at the McDonalds establishment in Manada Hill, which precipitated the employees subsequent resignation

(c)

(d)

Spencer H. Lewis, Jr., Director Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Page 4 August 14, 2013

from employment. This misconduct by Mr. Green constituted, in my opinion, discriminatory employment practices by my employer, H. James Rippon Enterprises. (e) On a regular basis during meetings with employees of H. James Rippon Enterprises and during training meetings with other Owner/Operators of McDonalds establishments, H. James Rippon spoke openly and proudly about his sexual exploits with female prostitutes and his frequenting of Gentlemens Club establishments in Pennsylvania and Florida. During one such training meeting, he stated to an African American field service manager, Why not ride with me, Ive never been with a black woman before. Further, on one occasion, Milton W. Green, III advised me and John Monk, while the three of us were waiting for an unemployment compensation hearing to commence, that the reason our food sales were lower than projected at the McDonalds establishment in Manada Hill was because we had more blacks as employees. These statements by Mr. Rippon and Mr. Green were, in my opinion, highly insensitive, inappropriate and discriminatory.

10.

I did not become aware of the extent of the discriminatory employment practices of my employer until early March of 2013 (with the exception of seeing the actual text message attached hereto as Exhibit A, which I did not see until late June 2013), at which point I contacted Tory Wozny, a McDonalds Corporation Human Resources Officer, advising him of my serious concerns regarding the discriminatory employment practices of my employer and requesting his guidance as to what I should do to address my concerns. Mr. Wozny advised me to discuss my concerns directly and diplomatically with my employer. On July 1, 2013, a few days after I saw for the first time the sexually explicit text message attached hereto as Exhibit A, I met with both H. James Rippon and Milton W. Green, III at the McDonalds establishment in Manada Hill and advised them in clear and unambiguous terms that I strongly objected to and opposed the discriminatory employment practices in which they were engaging as my employer, H. James Rippon Enterprises. In this regard, I stated if it happens one more time, there will be a big problem. My intent in expressing my objection and opposition to the discriminatory employment practices was to cause Mr. Rippon and Mr. Green to cease and desist engaging in such discriminatory employment practices. When I arrived at work at the McDonalds establishment in Manada Hill on the morning of July 4, 2013, I was advised that I had been suspended indefinitely and that my employment relationship with H. James Rippon Enterprises was done. No reason was given to me for my suspension and termination from employment as General Manager.

11.

Spencer H. Lewis, Jr., Director Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Page 5 August 14, 2013

12.

I believe my suspension and termination from employment as General Manager on July 4, 2013 was a direct consequence of, and in retaliation for, my statements to H. James Rippon and Milton W. Green, III on July 1, 2013, in which I expressed my objection and opposition to the discriminatory employment practices of my employer, H. James Rippon Enterprises.

It is my understanding that this letter will serve to commence the EEOCs investigatory process, for which I am truly grateful because I fear for the continued harm that may be caused to the many good and dedicated employees of H. James Rippon Enterprises if my former employers discriminatory employment practices are permitted to continue. It is my further understanding that the EEOC may request additional information from me, and that ultimately, I will be asked to sign an official EEOC Charge form. Should you have any questions or desire further information of any kind, please contact me or my legal counsel, Wendell V. Courtney, whose contact information is as follows: Wendell V. Courtney, Esquire Smigel, Anderson & Sacks, LLP 4431 North Front Street Harrisburg, PA 17110 wcourtney@sasllp.com 717-234-2401 Your attention to this matter is very much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Jason J. Rippon Enclosure cc: Wendell V. Courtney, Esquire Debra Lawrence, Esquire, EEOC Regional Attorney