Not lovin' it? 700 employees take legal action against McDonald's in UK over harassment claims

As many as 700 McDonald’s employees in the UK have sued the fast-food chain over claims of discrimination, sexual harassment and homophobia.

Both current and former workers, some as young as 19, have approached the law firm Leigh Day to take legal action against McDonald’s. Their complaints will have implications for over 450 of MCD’s outlets across Britain.

Last year, the BBC worked on an expose that contained testimonies of numerous employees alleging sexual misconduct, racism and bullying by staff at McDonald’s. In November 2024, Alistair Macrow, chief executive of McDonald’s UK and Ireland, told a watchdog parliamentary committee that the chain’s management receives around five weekly reports of bullying and assured that the company is working on the complaints.

“We have repeatedly asked the BBC to provide details of the deeply troubling cases they have outlined, to allow us to carry out full investigations, which we have not received. We understand the majority of these cases took place more than 12 months ago,” MCD said as Macrow faced the parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

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What do employees say?

According to The Guardian, a 19-year-old client of Leigh Day’s who currently works at McDonald’s said, “I feel as though I can’t speak to any managers about it. My manager said if I can’t deal with it, I should just leave the job. Things said to me shouldn’t be said to anyone, I’ve been called names like ‘faggot’. These comments make me feel really uncomfortable – I hate working there.”

A former employee, who left his position at a McDonald’s branch in the Midlands last year, told the BBC that he was bullied due to his learning disability and eye condition. He also reported witnessing incidents of racism by managers and staff toward other employees and alleged that some managers attempted to make inappropriate physical advances toward staff members.

Leigh Day said that other forms of harassment that their clients had to withstand include a young employee being persistently pressured for sex and another being subjected to inappropriate sexual questions, including inquiries about their number of sexual partners.

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What has McDonald’s said?

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the food chain said, “Ensuring the 168,000 people that work in McDonald’s restaurants are safe is the most important responsibility for both us and our franchisees, and we have undertaken extensive work over the last year to ensure we have industry leading practices in place to support this priority.”

“Any incident of misconduct and harassment is unacceptable and subject to rapid and thorough investigation and action.”