Every McDonald's in Britain warned over staff sexual abuse

14 March 2025, 08:41 | Updated: 14 March 2025, 12:38

Every McDonald’s in England, Wales and Scotland has been warned owners will face legal action if they fail to take steps to protect workers from sexual abuse.

All 1,400 franchises in Britain have been warned legal action will be taken if owners fail to comply with their responsibilities to staff.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) informed the restaurant chain there was "no excuse not to comply" with rules protecting its workers from unlawful discrimination or harassment.

It comes in the wake of an investigation that more than 700 people who were aged 19 or younger when working at the fast-food chain called on firm Leigh Day to take legal action on their behalf.

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More than 450 McDonald’s locations were implicated in the investigation.

EHRC chief executive John Kirkpatrick said: "Every business in Britain, whether it's small or large, must comply with the Equality Act. The owners of McDonald's franchises are no exception and we've written to them directly to make their obligations clear.

"We know some business owners might be unsure of what action they need to take, and that's why we've created clear and easy-to-follow guidance which explains how businesses can meet their legal duties.

"This is available on our website and we've shared it with all McDonald's franchises so there is no excuse not to comply.

"We will not hesitate to take appropriate regulatory action if we believe a business is breaking equality law.

"Further to this intervention, we are actively working with McDonald's Restaurants Limited to strengthen our ongoing legal agreement with them in the light of the serious allegations raised from workers."

Following the BBC’s investigation, a McDonald’s spokesperson said they were "committed" to providing a safe working environment for staff.

The company also "welcomed" any advice on updating or enhancing existing procedures.

"These actions include everything from enhanced training programmes and onboarding practices, through to the launch of a new digital speak up channel designed with our and our franchisees' restaurant crew in mind," a spokesperson said.

"We are confident that the plan we have in place is working and making a difference to the near 170,000 people currently employed by McDonald's and our franchisees across McDonald's in the UK & Ireland today."

Leigh Day lawyers believe junior crew members and staff at McDonald's could be entitled to bring claims, regardless of whether they have directly experienced harassment.

It said they could have been exposed to a culture of inappropriate conduct, and urged any current staff aged under 20 to join the legal action.

McDonald's outlets work using a franchise model, meaning local managers are in charge of recruiting staff.

About 89% of British workers at McDonald's are on zero-hours contracts.

A McDonald's spokesperson lat year said the chain had done "extensive work" to make its workplaces safer.

"Any incident of misconduct and harassment is unacceptable and subject to rapid and thorough investigation and action," they said.

They added that the company had set up a dedicated team to tackle the problem, which has "already rolled out company-wide programmes to improve safeguarding, drive awareness and enhance training".

"We are confident that we are taking significant and important steps to tackle the unacceptable behaviours facing every organisation."