The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Wednesday against the Poynette-based owner and operator of 42 McDonald's restaurants in Wisconsin for allegedly allowing the sexual harassment of female workers at its restaurant in Reedsburg.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Madison, stems from discrimination charges filed by three former McDonald's workers. They and other women, some of them teenaged high school students, alleged that they were subjected to a pattern of sexual comments, propositions or inappropriate touching by male co-workers, and that some of the women were fired when they complained about the treatment.