A class-action lawsuit has been filed against McDonald’s for allegedly exposing more than 1,000 customers in Waterloo, New York, to hepatitis A virus (HAV), FoodPoisonJournal.com reports.

The suit follows a warning by the New York State Department of Health and the Seneca County Health Department last month, urging customers who ate at a McDonald’s in the upstate New York town between October 31 and November 8 to get tested for hep A, after being potentially exposed to the virus through an employee at the fast-food restaurant.

Originally filed by Waterloo resident Christopher Welch, the suit alleges that McDonald’s failed to properly supervise, train or monitor their food service employees, and for failing to require its employees to get vaccinated for HAV. Food safety attorneys are also asking McDonald’s to reimburse the county for the cost of administering hep A vaccines in the aftermath of the incident.  

Exposed employees and customers at the McDonald’s restaurant are also filing for damages that include wage loss, medical-related expenses, travel costs, emotional distress, fear of harm and humiliation, as well as physical pain and injury.

Rochester-based law firm Underberg and Kessler, LLP, teamed up with Marler Clark, the Food Safety Law Firm, to file the case. Marler Clark, based in Seattle, has filed similar hep A cases against fast-food restaurants such as Carl’s Jr., Subway, Chipotle and Quizno’s.