UK McDonald’s workers – some as young as 16 – say they were sexually harassed by managers
- An explosive report reveals the fast-food giant’s work culture is toxic, and in many cases managers were responsible for incidents of assault and homophobia
- There were also claims of racism, including staff pretending to imitate a worker originally from India by speaking ‘gibberish’
An explosive BBC article based on allegations from more than 100 current and former McDonald’s UK workers paints a picture of a toxic work culture at the fast-food giant, with claims of harassment, sexual assault, racism, and homophobia.
In many cases, managers were responsible for the incidents, the current and former workers told the broadcaster. Workers as young as 16 said they were sexually harassed on the job.
During the BBC’s five-month investigation, it heard claims that a restaurant manager suggested a 16-year-old male worker perform sexual acts in exchange for vapes, another manager tried to pressurise new 16-year-old female workers into having sex, and male managers and crew members at one restaurant in Wales joked about betting on which of them would be the first to sleep with a new hire.
A former worker told the BBC that a senior restaurant manager choked her and grabbed her buttocks when she was 17 and that a shift manager separately sent her sexually-explicit photos.
One worker said that she was left with no choice but to quit her job after a male colleague slapped her on the buttocks when she was 19, leaving a bruise. The incident was caught on camera and she reported it to her manager, but she was still made to work with the colleague, she said.
“It’s the expectation that if you work at McDonald’s, you will be harassed,” a former worker told the BBC.