McDonald’s currently investigating 79 cases of sexual harassment, MPs publish seven written testimonies from whistleblowers: McDonald’s is currently investigating 79 cases of sexual harassment in the UK and Ireland, and has received 407 complaints “of all types” since July, boss Alistair Macrow has told MPs. Macrow was talking to the business and trade committee about allegations of a toxic workplace culture at McDonald’s restaurants from former employees. The session today (Tuesday, 14 November) also saw seven written testimonies published from whistleblowers (see below). McDonald’s is looking into 279 reports relating to safety and inclusivity in the workplace, Macrow revealed. He also said that 157 reports have already been fully investigated, with 75 resulting in disciplinary action, including 18 dismissals and 17 cases of sexual harassment. Macrow said the business faces “one or two” sexual harassment claims from employees each week. He said: “Since July, 18 people have been dismissed in regards to complaints in total and we are still investigating 249 further cases. We typically would see between 20 and 25 contacts per week, of which one or two are sexual harassment, across the organisation.” Macrow pledged to “eradicate” sexual harassment and abuse across the restaurant chains, but admitted he did not know how many complaints had been referred to the police. The boss told MPs that testimonies from staff members alleging abuse or harassment at work were “truly horrific and hard to listen to”. He said: “To be in charge of the business when these incidents are occurring is very hard to hear. I am absolutely determined to root out any of these behaviours, to identify individuals who are responsible for them and make sure they are eradicated from our business. When I became aware of them in the summertime, with the BBC reporting, I immediately took action to start to make a difference.” He added: “We are very clear of what is expected. It's a long and complex issue and we are working with PwC to see if there are more ways of putting in more preventable measures.” The victim said the boss constantly referred to gay sex positions, “which made me feel offended, embarrassed, and degraded”. Earlier this year, Macrow launched a programme of independent investigations, audits of its complaints procedure, reviews of its code of conduct and a number of full disciplinary hearings in response to a raft of claims. But unions said they have been told “nothing has changed” at McDonald’s since the company launched investigations into allegations of a toxic environment and abuse claims. Ian Hodson, national president of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, told MPs: “The feedback we are getting is that nothing has changed. There is a tick-box system that has been put in play, a video about how things are supposed to happen. We really welcome the involvement of EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) but what was really lacking is the workers’ involvement in that process.” McDonald’s has a history of using non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) following allegations of abuse from workers, unions have told MPs. Hodson added: “It is very difficult to give you a hard number [of claims] because they have a history of paying off when they have issues in front of them, of NDAs. Getting the information, therefore, becomes very difficult. When people raise their grievances, they are encouraged to not go forward with the grievance, as otherwise they will see their hours cut. For every worker we spoke to, they raised the issues of the toxic culture inside McDonald’s. It was common. Whether it was the way they were spoken to, or the way they were treated, there was acceptance that they were touched in the workplace, and the use of language. It was common and it was normal, which obviously it shouldn’t be.” Most workers are not directly employed by the company because McDonald’s uses a franchise system, which means outlets are run by individual operators that employ the staff. Last Thursday (9 November), the law firm Leigh Day launched legal action against McDonald’s on behalf of a group of the chain’s workers. MPs were told no franchisees “have been fired” while they said they were concerned to hear that McDonald’s was still receiving “one or two” complaints a week about sexual harassment.

Whistleblower A said they were 16 when they were hired and transferred to a new store that was opening because it was closer and easier to travel. During their employment at this new store, Manager A, who was considerably older, made them feel extremely uncomfortable with comments, “which were passed off as banter”. The evidence said: “I told another manager who shut me down before I could explain further and told me that I was being issued with an official formal warning (despite not following the formal process for warnings as I later found out – at the time, I was unaware of the process. Manager B told me that if they heard any more about the situation, I would face severe consequences and would be removed from the crew trainer program and would not be eligible for promotion. Based upon my experience working for McDonald’s I do not feel that there was a culture by managers at store and franchise people lead/services of safeguarding for young members of staff. My own experience demonstrates that McDonald’s has a strong culture of sexual harassment, victim blaming and bullying. I want to share my story with the committee to make an impact and a difference in the company to change this culture.”

Evidence from Whistleblower B, who started working at McDonald’s at the age of 16, stated: “The duty of care from McDonald’s is non-existent. My restaurant got sold to a franchisee a couple of years after I’ve started working there and after the selling date we have not received a single visit from the corporate to actually check on the employees, and how they are dealing with the business transition, new management, or well-being. The new management produced new targets straight away, which reduced the number of staff that the restaurant could have at any given  hour. For example, if on a Saturday lunchtime we were allowed to have 25 staff members, the franchisee reduced it to 20 staff members. Which eventually made staff to be exhausted, mentally, and physically. McDonald’s corporate could not care about these targets, because if restaurant is making better profit, then McDonald’s headquarters would receive a larger cut from it. People are scared to have their hours cut. Employees having breakdowns, crying and struggling to manage work due to intentional understaffing has become normality, and McDonald’s probably does not even know about it, because they don’t visit the restaurant and secondly more staff on the restaurant floor means less profit for them.”

Whistleblower C revealed she was sprayed with a hose by a male colleague a few years older than herself that left her white top see-through. She said: “I was told that the matter would be investigated and then there was nothing done or said following said investigation. The point I am making is that no matter where you go the situation continues. Following the BBC article, it is evident that this has happened to a multitude of people up and down the country and I am sure there are many people who haven’t come forward for whatever reason, but let’s not forget about them, they still have stories to tell. I am appalled that this multimillion-pound corporation is failing to take responsibility and make changes that need to happen to keep young boys and girls safe. It is exploitation at its finest and someone needs to start labelling it as that.”

Whistleblower D said they and other 16-year-olds were often asked about their sex lives and shown inappropriate images by a manager. The evidence stated: “Sexual conversations between 16-year-old employees and adults were so normalised that no-one in management ever did anything about it. If a 16-year-old asked me whether they should work at McDonald's I would tell them not to. The chances are that older male managers will take advantage of them.”

Whistleblower E and E1 included evidence from their parents, who were “belittled” after speaking out about inappropriate behaviour. The evidence said: “We were supportive our children joined McDonalds at 17 years old while doing their educational studies, with this being their first encounter in working in the real world. If we only knew then what was to come, we would have prevented them wholeheartedly from working in such a toxic environment. We would have prevented them from having to experience such hurt and anguish in their first experience of work. To witness our children being spoken down to, demoralised and degraded in their everyday working environment and treated with so little respect as a human being was horrific to stand by and watch. The stress that McDonalds has placed on our family is almost too hard to put into words. The store predominantly made it challenging to raise concerns, and when raised they weren’t actioned. I am appalled that so little has been done to prevent this type of bullying behaviour and why the McDonald’s Corporation is allowing its franchises to function in this manner.”

Whistleblower F spoke about inappropriate behaviour by a manager as she was cleaning a grill. It said: “It was either the next day at work, or the day after, where I went to the business manager of the restaurant and explained what had happened and that I wanted to file a formal complaint. We watched the incident happen on CCTV, where there was full view of him assaulting me, and he was very professional and assured me that this would be dealt with. I remember not seeing the boy who assaulted me for maybe around ten days, and then I came into work one day and the boy who assaulted me was on shift with me. I remember freezing and feeling extremely panicked and overwhelmed. I asked the business manager what happened with the investigation, to which he said he could not disclose that information to me. Although I knew the business manager did what he could, I feel as though McDonald’s as a whole failed me at this point. McDonald’s does provide sexual harassment training as part of their e-learning system. However, the training is not really taken seriously. There were a lot of instances where procedure was not followed by staff not completing their e-learning before working on the station they were meant to have been trained on.”