Over 700 U.K. McDonald's Workers Planning Legal Action Against Chain amid Allegations of 'Widespread Harassment,' Law Firm Says

Mar. 15, 2025

A stock photo of a McDonald’s sign in London, United Kingdom.Photo:Getty

Getty

Hundreds of former and current McDonald’s employees in restaurants across the United Kingdom are planning legal action against the fast food chain amid ongoing workplace misconduct allegations.

TheBBCfirst launched an investigation into the alleged “toxic culture of sexual assault, harassment, racism and bullying” at the company in February 2023, before reporting on some of the findings that July.

“Speaking to the firm’s dedicated McDonald’s claims team, clients have described experiences of discrimination, homophobia, racism, ableism, and harassment,” the legal firm said, per the release.

A stock photo of the McDonald’s sign.Mario Tama/Getty

Mario Tama/Getty

The legal firm stated that over 450 of McDonald’s U.K. restaurants had been implicated in the claims so far, per the release.

Macrow called the alleged cases “abhorrent, unacceptable, and there is no place for them in McDonald’s,” theBBCreported, and said 29 people had been dismissed from restaurants over the past 12 months amid sexual harassment allegations.

Leigh Day

“Our confidential email hotline gave us vital intelligence that we are using to carefully shape these discussions, and we are grateful to those who came forward to report incidents of harassment," it added.

“We are confident that McDonald’s will take up our recommendations when these new amendments are announced, and our priority remains ensuring that McDonald’s improve their practices and that their staff are protected from sexual harassment,” the statement concluded.

A stock photo of a McDonald’s location.Cassidy Sparrow/Getty Images for McDonald’s

Cassidy Sparrow/Getty Images for McDonald’s

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EHRC first entered into a section 23 agreement with the chain in February 2023. “By agreeing to a section 23 agreement, an organization commits to not breaching equality law, usually in a specific area where there have been previous concerns,” theEHRC websitestated.

Per the McDonald’swebsite, the company “has more than 1,450 restaurants across the U.K. and Ireland and employs more than 135,000 people.”

source: people.com