NEW YORK – Coughlin, Inc., a Vermont-based company that owns and operates ten McDonald’s franchise restaurants in Vermont and New Hampshire, will pay $1,600,000 and furnish other relief to settle a sex discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the State of Vermont, and Plaintiff-Intervenor, the Estate of Jennie Lumbra, the federal agency announced today.