More than 100 former and current employees of McDonald’s have spoken out about sexual harassment, racism and homophobia, just months after the fast food giant signed a legal agreement with the equalities watchdog to protect staff.
An investigation by the BBC found that McDonald’s staff, many of them young, were regularly groped and sexually harassed and that management often turned a blind eye.
McDonald’s “deeply apologised” and said it had fallen short after saying in February that it “already has a strong track record in this area”.
Five months ago, McDonald’s Restaurants signed a section 23 agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) committing the organisation – one of the UK’s largest private-sector employers – to protecting workers against sexual harassment.
The agreement included communicating a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment, conducting anonymous surveys about workplace safety, enhancing policies to prevent sexual harassment and improve responses to complaints, and introducing training to help managers identify areas of risk and take steps to prevent sexual harassment.
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But the BBC spoke to more than 100 staff and discovered 31 allegations relating to sexual assault, 78 of sexual harassment, 18 allegations of racism, and six claims of homophobia. Multiple staff told the investigation that managers were responsible for the harassment and assaults.
The EHRC has set up a confidential email hotline for people affected and a spokesperson said it was concerned to hear of the new allegations.
“We will look at them closely in the context of our current legal agreement with McDonald’s to tackle sexual harassment of staff in its restaurants,” they added.
Nearly 180,000 people work in McDonald’s 1,450 UK restaurants, almost 90% of which are franchises. Three-quarters of its employees are under 25, including many teenagers in their first job. Allegations made by staff aged under 18 included:
- an employee who said a much older colleague made a racial slur and asked to show her his penis, saying he wanted to make a “black-and-white” baby with her
- a former worker who said a senior manager choked her and grabbed her bottom and said that a shift manager sent her sexually explicit images
- a worker who said their manager suggested they perform sex acts in exchange for vapes
- a manager who preyed on 16-year-old female starters, trying to pressure them into having sex.
There was also an account from a worker, originally from India, who said that crew members spoke in “gibberish” to imitate her and called a Pakistani colleague a terrorist.
One worker said she was seen by her male colleagues as “fresh meat” when she started and other female workers told the BBC they were forced to wear uniforms that were too tight.
“There is a saying at McDonald’s, ‘tits on tills’ – boys in the kitchen, girls on the counter. The idea is to put attractive people at the front,” said another.
‘No place for harassment’
Alistair Macrow, chief executive of McDonald’s UK & Ireland, said there was “simply no place for harassment, abuse or discrimination” at the fast food giant.
“Every one of the 177,000 employees in McDonald’s UK deserves to work in a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace. There are clearly instances where we have fallen short and for that we deeply apologise,” he said.
“We will investigate all allegations brought to us, and all proven breaches of our code of conduct will be met with the most severe measures we can legally impose, up to and including dismissal.”
This morning, McDonald’s has taken to social media to respond to posts concurring with the allegations with the message: “Please could you DM us with more details, we want to investigate this immediately”.
Macrow added that more than 2,000 managers had completed “full awareness training” and that most restaurant teams were now working within new protections to create “a safe and respectful workplace”.
Personnel Today asked McDonald’s what proportion of staff at manager level or above had completed the training but at the time of publication, the company had not responded.
Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: “There should be zero tolerance of sexual harassment in every organisation. I’m concerned at these new reports of harassment at McDonald’s, where we have an existing legal agreement in place to ensure their restaurants are safe places to work.”
“McDonald’s have committed to make improvements to set an example for others to follow, in the hospitality industry and elsewhere.”
“Every employer, no matter how big or small, is responsible for protecting its workforce. We’re determined to continue to crack down on illegal harassment at places of work.”
Thomas Beale, partner at law firm Bolt Burdon Kemp, said: “Clearly, these allegations are deeply concerning and McDonald’s needs to be held accountable for the terrible treatment of their staff.
“They need to implement significant widespread changes throughout the organisation to eradicate this toxic culture and apologise to all workers that have suffered harassment at work. It is clear that those at the top have allowed this culture to develop and they have many questions to answer given the company’s pledge to protect staff from sexual harassment.”
McDonald’s sexual harassment allegations
In 2019 the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) recorded a catalogue of abuse and harassment across McDonald’s branches. It estimated that more than 1,000 female workers had experienced sexual harassment at McDonald’s, based on conversations the union had with workers across the UK.
Sarah Woolley, BFAWU general secretary, described today’s allegations as “shocking”.
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In 2021, McDonald’s workers walked out in 12 US cities in protest against how the restaurant chain has dealt with sexual harassment claims.
This followed the high-profile departure of Steve Easterbrook, the company’s British chief executive. He initially admitted a single consensual relationship with a colleague, but McDonald’s later sued him to recover severance pay and benefits after accusing him of covering up a string of sexual relationships with former colleagues. The case was eventually settled with Easterbrook repaying exit payments worth $105m.
