McDonald's faces sexual assault, racism and bullying claims from 100 workers
Over 100 workers at McDonald’s have spoken out about the horrific conditions they operate in, allegedly suffering from sexual assault, harassment, racism and bullying.
A BBC investigation has found that some workers, as young as 17, claim they were groped and harassed and others felt forced to quit.
Meanwhile, senior managers were said to never act on complaints, engendering the allegedly toxic culture.
McDonald’s employs over 170,000 people across 1,450 restaurants in the UK and is on of the country’s largest private sector employees.
But alongside this, it is also one of the country’s youngest workforces and due to the licensing system McDonald’s uses, people are often not directly employed by the company.
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A spokesperson for McDonald's said "we deeply apologise" and that all allegations will be investigated with the most severe outcome for proven breaches of conduct.
They added that "there is no place for harassment, abuse or discrimination of any kind at McDonald's."
It comes four years after 1,000 women reported they had been subjected to sexual harassment and abuse while working at McDonald's restaurants, according to the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union.
The recent claims bear a close resemblance to what the BFAWU said in 2019. Both say that managers failed to act on some complaints, and that predatory employees were moved to different McDonald's sites rather than being fired.
The recent claims bear a close resemblance to what the BFAWU said in 2019 (file photo) (Liverpool Echo)Of the 100 current and recent workers who spoke out to the outlet, 31 related to sexual assault, 78 to sexual harassment, there were 18 allegations of racism and six of homophobia.
One now former employee, aged just 17, said she was grabbed on the bum and choked by a senior manager at a restaurant.
Alongside that, she claimed a shift manager sent her sexually explicit pictures.
Another teen, still working for the chain, said a colleague decades older than her called her a racial slur and asked to show her his penis and said he wanted to make a “black and white” baby with her.
One manager was said to prey on 16-year-old female new starters, trying to pressure them into sex.
One McDonald’s employee said she faced anti-Semitic abuse, as a woman in a branch was allegedly subjected to racist jokes and slurs.
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At one branch in Northern Ireland, sexual relations were so common that it reportedly led to an outbreak in gonorrhoea.
Another current employee, formally from India, said that the crew spoke to her in “gibberish” to imitate her and called a Pakistani colleague a terrorist.
The string of shocking allegations paint a horrific picture of what it is allegedly like for many to work at the chain.
Multiple workers said that managers were often responsible for the harassment and assaults, and, despite being against company policy, sexual relationships between them and more junior members were reported.
The string of shocking allegations paint a horrific picture of what it is allegedly like for many to work at the chain (file photo) (Derby Telegraph)It seems that young women especially faced an immensely difficult time and one relayed how she and her colleagues were seen as “fresh meat”.
Others said they were forced to wear uniforms that were too tight, by managers.
A 22-year-old woman told the outlet: “There is a saying at McDonald’s, ‘t*** on tills’ - boys in the kitchen, girls on the counter.”
A 20-year-old who left her branch last year after a male colleague in her 60s kept stroking her hair in a sexually suggestive way, added: "It's the expectation that if you work at McDonald's, you will be harassed,".
One girl was just 16 when she started working for the chain. She said that older male colleagues would use the cramped layout of the kitchen to touch younger female staff.
On top of that, she said she was “warned” away from one man in particular, who later came up behind her, grabbed her and pulled her onto his groin.
Despite going to senior management, nothing was done, and she resigned, blasting the “toxic work environment” in her leaving email.
McDonald’s told the BBC it was “deeply sorry” to hear what she went through and was investigating why the issues were not formally escalated at the time.
A 17-year-old said she suffered sexual and racial harassment from a man much older than her.
She initially raised it with female staff who she said told her to ignore it and get back to work.
It was only after months of harassment that she told her stepfather who wrote to the franchise, corporate officers and police - only then allegedly leading to the man being fired.
McDonald’s told the BBC that her experiences were “abhorrent and unacceptable” and apologised.
They also said they took swift action as soon as the issue came to its attention.
Some staff reported that problem managers were sometimes just bounced around within the franchise instead of fired.
Other young employees say they didn't complain as they couldn’t risk jeopardising their work - and are often on zero hour contracts.
Alistair Macrow, CEO, McDonald’s UK & Ireland, said: “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.
“There is simply no place for harassment, abuse, or discrimination of any kind at McDonald’s – and 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.
“In February this year McDonald’s UK committed with the Equalities and Human Rights Commission to a zero-tolerance approach to any kind of harassment. This is supported by a companywide programme of training, the roll out of new policies and strict reporting processes, all aimed at offering the highest possible level of workplace protection for all our employees.
“Already over 2,000 of our managers have completed full awareness training and nearly all of our restaurant teams are now working within these new protections aimed at creating a safe and respectful workplace.
“All of this is backed by McDonald’s Global Standards, a set of stringent and non-negotiable guardrails to ensure safe and respectful workplaces, which we expect of all colleagues and Franchisees across the world.”
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