McDonald’s has been forced to expand its workplace reforms after the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) intervened for a second time over continuing sexual harassment allegations. The move has reopened questions about the company’s culture and whether it is capable of change after years of reports that young workers were being groped and abused at work.
The EHRC said it had updated its legally binding agreement with the fast-food chain “in response to serious allegations raised” since its first investigation in 2023. The strengthened measures require new training for managers, focusing on the grooming of young workers and the misuse of social media, and an external review of how harassment claims are handled.
Although the agreement applies only to restaurants in England, Scotland and Wales, the watchdog expects franchise owners to adopt similar steps. McDonald’s said it welcomed the revised plan and believed it would “build on the significant progress we have already made in this space”.
‘Culture of abuse and accountability gaps’
The corporate reforms come amid persistent accusations that harassment is tolerated across McDonald’s restaurants, including those run by franchisees. Allegations reported by the BBC include accounts from workers as young as 16 who said they were groped, bullied, shouted at or sent explicit images by managers.
Law firm Leigh Day, representing hundreds of current and former employees, said more than 450 restaurants had been implicated in complaints. Employment lawyer Kiran Daurka told BBC News that the watchdog’s latest action suggested ongoing failings. “I think we can assume that the equality watchdog wouldn’t be taking this action if things were ok at McDonald’s,” she said.
Daurka said the relationship between McDonald’s corporate arm and its franchise network needed closer scrutiny. She argued that “issues of sexual harassment can fall between the gaps” when responsibility is divided between head office and local owners.
The BBC first investigated McDonald’s in 2023, gathering testimony from more than 100 current and former staff who reported harassment, racism and bullying. Since then, over 160 more individuals have come forward, while the EHRC has recorded 300 separate reports of harassment. Despite a new complaints unit and previous pledges by senior management, former workers say little has changed.
Watchdog steps in again
Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the EHRC, said stronger measures were needed because the original action plan had not gone far enough. “After serious allegations were raised, we decided we needed to update the action plan with stronger actions that were more specific to the way McDonald’s operates,” she said.
She added, “We’re pleased with the significant steps McDonald’s has agreed to take towards a safer working environment for its staff and recognise the hard work they’ve done so far.”
The EHRC said McDonald’s would collaborate with external experts to design a safeguarding plan aimed at protecting vulnerable workers and strengthening risk assessments. It also called on the company to promote open reporting, telling staff to “speak out when something feels wrong.”
“Once completed, the actions that make up this legal agreement will ensure that there is zero tolerance for harassment at McDonald’s and there are clear routes to report and resolve complaints if it does occur,” Baroness Falkner said.
Real change or reputation repair?
While the company has pledged to cooperate, some staff believe its actions are driven more by public pressure than genuine reform. A former employee who took part in the BBC’s earlier investigation said the company’s new measures amounted to little more than corporate theatre.
“They’ve looked at what they can possibly do, in terms of what will sound promising enough, but not actually what will bring change,” she said. “I don’t actually think they have any personal desire to make the change. I don’t think they care enough.”
She added, “It’s a check box for them to tick, like just with the training. It’s something on a to-do list and they think they’ll do it and it’ll go away, but it just won’t happen.”
Ian Hodson, national president of the Bakers Union, which represents food workers, said there needed to be “real change” at McDonald’s. “It’s a huge problem. Workers should be entitled to go work without being sexually harassed, and employers should have a duty to act,” he told BBC News.
The union has long argued that structural problems within fast-food employment — including youth dependence, high turnover and local franchise control — make meaningful enforcement difficult. Critics say these weaknesses have allowed harassment to persist despite repeated warnings.
A test for McDonald’s culture
McDonald’s said the latest agreement “formalised” many of the initiatives it had already introduced with its franchisees over the past three years, including enhanced training, onboarding practices and a digital “Speak Up” channel designed for staff to report abuse confidentially.
A company spokesperson said: “Over the last three years, alongside our franchisees, we have embedded an extensive set of robust and far-reaching initiatives, as part of our steadfast commitment to ensuring a safe working environment in McDonald’s restaurants.”
According to the firm, 95% of employees were now aware of how to raise complaints. “We look forward to continuing our work with the EHRC and believe it will help us remain at the forefront of the industry when it comes to creating a safe and respectful workplace culture that embeds safeguarding across every one of our restaurants,” the spokesperson said.
Yet many observers believe the problem goes beyond compliance. The question now is whether McDonald’s new plan represents a turning point for the company’s culture or another cycle of damage control in a business where, for too many workers, harassment has long been seen as part of the job.
