CHICAGO — A group of employees from 13 McDonald’s restaurants in Chicago has filed a lawsuit alleging that the company’s drive for profits puts workers at “daily risk” of physical attack by dangerous customers.

In the lawsuit filed Thursday in Cook County, the 17 workers allege that McDonald’s has failed to protect them from what they say is a “citywide and nationwide” pattern of violence.

The lawsuit contends, for example, that by denying workers assigned to clean bathrooms the ability to post signs that bathrooms are out of service, they are putting those workers in danger of sexual violence.

McDonald’s didn’t respond to specific allegations in the lawsuit but said in a statement that the company has invested in “training programs that uphold safe environments” and has strict policies against violence.