The boss of McDonald’s in the UK has said 29 people have been dismissed over sexual harassment allegations over the past 12 months.
Alistair Macrow also told MPs that the alleged cases published by the on Tuesday were “abhorrent, unacceptable, and there is no place for them in McDonald’s”.
It comes after workers at the fast-food chain told the they are still facing sexual abuse and harassment, a year after Mr Macrow promised to clean up behaviour at the restaurants.
McDonald’s has insisted it has undertaken “extensive work” over the past year to ensure it is keeping workers safe.
Since the ‘s original investigation into the company in July 2023, we have heard 160 allegations of abuse while the UK equality watchdog has heard 300 reported incidents of harassment. It now plans to intervene again.
Liam Byrne, chair of the business and trade select committee, opened the session with those figures, asking Mr Macrow if McDonald’s had “basically now become a predator’s paradise”.
Mr Macrow said he would like to be able to investigate each allegation to understand them and ensure they can take “appropriate action”.
The measures McDonald’s has put in place mean it is able to offer a “secure, safe workplace where people are respected”, he said, adding he hears from his staff that the plan is “working”.
Mr Macrow said people were “speaking up”, adding that 75 allegations of sexual harassment had been made, 47 had been upheld with disciplinary action, and 29 individuals had been dismissed in the last year.
Mr Macrow was also asked about the issue of zero-hours contracts. Across the UK, 89% of McDonald’s workers are on zero-hours contracts.
McDonald’s says workers can choose to switch to minimum guaranteed hours. But we have spoken to 50 workers across the country who say they were not given that choice.
Some workers told the the insecure hours leads to an imbalance of power. Others, however, said zero-hours contracts worked well for them.
Mr Byrne asked if Mr Macrow accepted that this kind of “abuse flourishes when there is an imbalance of power in the workplace?”
Mr Macrow replied: “The type of allegations you describe are not widespread.” But he added that they do need to be eradicated from the business.
He said he did not want to “belittle” the allegations, but said the majority of incidents referred to the period before a new action plan was implemented.
He insisted that flexible contracts were “very popular” with young people and that they do get offered a choice to switch to minimum guaranteed hours.
The first began investigating working conditions at McDonald’s in February 2023, after the company signed a legally binding agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), in which it pledged to protect its staff from sexual harassment.
After our investigation was published a few months later, McDonald’s apologised and set up a new unit to deal with complaints.
The EHRC also set up a dedicated hotline for abuse claims.
Now the watchdog says it is taking stronger action against the fast-food chain.
McDonald’s has said the company has undertaken “extensive work” over the past year to ensure it has industry-leading practices in place to keep its workers safe.
