All McDonald’s franchises urged to protect staff from sexual harassment by equality regulator

Every branch of McDonald’s across Britain has been warned they are “at risk of enforcement action” should they fail to comply with their legal duties towards staff.

 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) sent out letters to all McDonald’s franchise sites today (14 March), which set out what each restaurant should do to comply with the Equality Act 2010.

 

The Equality Act 2010 aims to protect employees in the workplace through the prevention of discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and since October 2024 includes a new duty on employers to take “reasonable steps” to avoid workers being subjected to sexual harassment.

 

The fast food giant signed a legally-binding agreement with the equality regulator to stop sexual harassment across its restaurants in February 2023, but individual franchises were not bound to this document.

 

A BBC investigation at the time heard from more than 100 current and recent employees, who made allegations that employees as young as 17 were “groped and harassed almost routinely”.

 

Almost two years on, the EHRC has urged franchises to work alongside its parent company, McDonald’s Restaurants Limited, to re-address these issues. It emerged in January that staff were still facing sexual harassment despite its chief executive committing to “root out any behaviour or conduct that falls below the high standards of respect, safety and inclusion we demand of everyone at McDonald’s”.

 

In July 2023, McDonald’s launched a dedicated Investigation Handling Unit after UK and Ireland chief executive Alistair Macrow said he found allegations made to the BBC around misconduct within its workforce “personally and professionally shocking”.

 

In January, Macrow faced questions from MPs over ongoing accusations of abuse at the chain and revealed the firm had sacked 29 people over claims of sexual harassment over the last 12 months, while a total of 75 allegations of sexual harassment had been made during 2024, leading to 47 cases of disciplinary action.

 

He also said McDonald’s had launched an internal plan to tackle harassment, which was “working”.

 

The EHRC stressed it holds the statutory enforcement powers to conduct formal investigations where it suspects an unlawful act has taken place and can take enforcement action even if no sexual harassment has actually occurred, if there is enough evidence to suggest reasonable steps were not taken by franchises to protect staff.

 

John Kirkpatrick, chief executive of the EHRC, 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.

 

He added: “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.”

 

Samantha Dickinson, partner at law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter, said: “McDonald’s must act now to make proactive changes if they want to avoid costly tribunal claims and avoid lasting damage to their reputation.

 

“Pressure on the business is mounting with this latest intervention from the EHRC and McDonald’s leadership must do more to safeguard its employees.

 

“Zero-hours contracts often leave employees vulnerable, as their hours and income depend heavily on the discretion of managers, creating an environment where workers may feel pressured to tolerate inappropriate behaviour to secure shifts.

 

“Now that MPs have voted to approve the government’s Employment Rights Bill, which is likely to include the right to guaranteed hours for zero hours workers, the hope is this could go some way to mitigate power imbalances.”