I’m not sure about the payroll thing. You are probably right about that. Some franchises do almost noting via a corporate center, others do almost everything. I will guess that McDonalds controls their franchises more than most do, and what I’ve heard about McD’s is that this is part of their secret: If you go into a McDonalds, it will be a lot like the last one you were in. It may be that they pay their employees different amounts and in different ways, but I’ll not be sure of that until I see some evidence of it.

I am personally not ready to blame the entire McDonald’s Corporation just yet, but you do have some valid points. However, as I understand it, franchisees are independent business owners, which is what the McDonald’s rep said. I believe they do have their own business accounts for payroll and do get to decide what to pay their employees. All that other stuff you mentioned is in the franchise agreement, the violation of which causes the revocation of the franchise.

All that being said: Yes, let’s see how McDonald’s handles this. Disavowing the owner’s actions is a good start. Are there going to be repercussions for the owner? Is there something in the franchise agreement about this sort of thing? I don’t know.

P.S. Perhaps you are thinking of McDonald’s Corporation owned restaurants which do have the kind of relationship you are talking about.

Why not more accurately state “Ohio business owner”?

That would have been too unspecific. After all, there are quite a few business owners who might legitimately advise their employees that Republican political control would be good for their bonuses: mortgage fraudsters, armament companies, drug runners, back-alley abortionists, televangelists…

The company in question being a McDonald’s franchise makes the story particularly poignant – essentially, the guy was telling his employees that Republican candidates would help him grow his business, but in truth they would do that by removing specifically those protections (like minimum wages) that would make the employees benefit from that growth. Unhealthy and disingenuous – I’m loving it.

I’m absolutely certain that if Huffpo or I said “Ohio Business Owner” instead of McDonalds Employees, many people would see that as dishonest. In contrast, people who respond to a headline with an important detail (that it was a McDonalds) that this was the wrong thing to say would be rare.

a) I dislike the headline because it implies MacDonald’s Corporation did this. No, it was just some asshat franchisee. Why not more accurately state “Ohio business owner”? Oh, yeah. Attention grabbing headline – no one one would bat an eye at my rendition.

2) The guy must be prosecuted. He clearly broke the law and if the rule of law is to have any meaning at all he must suffer the consequences. I wouldn’t even be able to get out of a traffic ticket with a lame apology like that. Offended? I doubt any employee was offended. They were threatened. With REAL harm. Harm he has the ability to inflict. And, more to the point, a threat he has NOT retracted!