Noor Nanji & Zoe Conway
BBC News
Getty images
Each McDonald’s in Great Britain has been warned that its owners could face legal action if they do not take measures to protect personnel from sexual abuse.
The Watchdog of Equality wrote to all 1,400 branches telling them that they had to comply with their legal functions, or to risk application measures, after a BBC survey discovered the allegations of a toxic culture of sexual assault and harassment.
In January, McDonald’s workers told us that they were still faced with sexual harassment for more than a year after its managing director had promised to clean the behavior with the fast food chain.
McDonald’s said he was “committed” to do everything he can to ensure a safe work environment for all employees.
He added: “We are convinced that the plan we have in place works.”
The BBC asked a current McDonald’s employee, who works for a franchise restaurant in the southwest of Scotland, for his reaction to the letter. He told us that he hoped that the intervention would lead to a “concrete change” for people like him.
The 19 -year -old worker, whom we call Alan, told us in January that he had been subjected several times to verbal abuses “degrading and humiliating his colleagues, and has faced” homophobic insults “.
Alan is still working on it. He says that things are not very different and that he wants to “escape”.
The letter from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which the BBC has seen, called allegations in our “disturbing” investigation and noted that there were “repeated incidents”.
The vast majority of McDonald’s restaurants are managed by deductibles, which means that individual operators are authorized to manage points of sale and employ the staff.
The EHRC said that franchises were not covered by the legally binding agreement that it concluded with McDonald’s in February 2023 to prevent sexual harassment in its restaurants.
But he said that all companies in Great Britain, small or large, must comply with the equality law.
“It is your duty to ensure that all the anti-discrimination and harassment measures you have in place are effective and to take the necessary measures to protect your workers,” EHRC CEO John Kirkpatrick, restaurants.
Unlimited fines
The letter defines the “reasonable measures” that restaurants could take to prevent sexual harassment.
These include regular risk assessments, to ensure that younger and more vulnerable workers are properly saved and that complaints are treated with sensitivity and effectively thanks to an established procedure.
He added that any franchise restaurant that does not respect its legal functions “can be at risk of application measures”.
The EHRC offers a range of statutory powers open to it, including the possibility of launching official surveys.
If an organization repeatedly refuses to comply, the watchdog can subscribe to it by the courts, where an unlimited fine could be issued.
“Totally and totally unacceptable”
Liam Byrne, president of the Business and Trade Committee, said that the BBC investigation into abuse at McDonald’s had “exposed a professional fault which was completely and completely unacceptable”.
He called the CEH to explain “why he only writes to McDonald’s restaurants on their new duty under the law, to prevent sexual harassment, when he entered into force almost six months ago”.
He said it was “particularly worrying because the regulator has experienced hundreds of harassment allegations for several years”.
He added: “The parliamentary committees have now found the vigor of their disappointing application twice. It is now vital that the public is reassured, they are above the problem – and not behind the curve.”
In response, Mr. Kirkpatrick said: “We think that generally the best way to get improvement is to work with voluntary management teams to make a real change.”
He added: “We can impose actions on companies. If we have to do, then that’s what we will do.”
The BBC began investigating working conditions at McDonald’s over two years ago, after the fast food chain signed its agreement with the CEH.
In July 2023, we published our initial survey, which reported affirmations of workers, certain as young as 17, to be trial and harassment almost systematically.
At the time, McDonald’s apologized and created a new unit to deal with complaints.
Since then, more than 160 people have approached the BBC with allegations while the CEHR has heard 300 harassment incidents reported.
Other statements that the BBC heard includes:
A 19 -year -old worker said that managers “touch up” other staff members and that some colleagues were afraid to participate in work. He left the branch in the midlands last year. A worker said the managers touched her inappropriately and customers had sexually harassed him. When she raised her, she said she was told to “suck”. She left her job in the West Midlands at the end of 2023. A 16 -year -old employee based in the West Midlands, who said he had been intimidated, shouted and sworn in by managers. A 20 years old, who said that a male manager had sent her photos to the bare breasts. She left her McDonald’s branch in eastern England in August.
Earlier this year, we pointed out that the guard dog planned to intervene again, “in the light of serious allegations raised by our work with the company and the BBC investigation”.
The BBC understands that the action plan will involve the strengthening of existing measures – which included more training and conduct a survey of workers – as well as the announcements of new steps.
Alistair Macrow, the boss of McDonald’s in the United Kingdom, was summoned twice to Parliament to answer questions before deputies since our initial investigation.
In January, he declared that 29 people had been dismissed for allegations of sexual harassment in the last 12 months.
In a statement, a spokesperson for McDonald’s said that the agreement with CEHC had been signed “with the intention that it continues to evolve to ensure that the robust measures that we have in place are aligned with any updated orientation”.
He declared that the letter had been sent “to remind our franchisees their legal obligations to provide a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace for their employees – which is the same legal requirement of all employers”, adding that it “welcomes” all measures which mean that it continues to progress in this area.
He said that with his franchisees, he is committed to doing everything he can to ensure a safe work environment for all employees, with initiatives and measures within the framework of a cultural action plan.
“These actions include everything, improved training programs and integration practices, until the launch of a new digital exemption chain designed with our catering team and our franchisee in mind,” said the spokesperson.
“We are convinced that the plan that we have put in place works and makes a difference for nearly 170,000 people currently employed by McDonald’s and our McDonald’s franchisees in the United Kingdom and Ireland today.”
They added that his last anonymous employee survey showed that 94% of people knew the ways they can express themselves.
If you have been affected by one of the problems in this story, information and support are available via the BBC Action Line.
Some of the names of this story have been modified to protect identities.
