A McDonald’s worker has warned other young people to “think very carefully” before taking a job at the fast food giant after claiming inappropriate behaviour is still “extremely common”.
The burger chain has been rocked by allegations of sex abuse and harassment by teenage staff members. The accusations include one manager offering a worker extra shifts for sex. McDonald’s vowed in November 2023 to tackle the problem.
But fresh allegations emerged earlier this month, suggesting it was continuing. It is backed by Matty – not his real name – who says he still works for McDonald’s and spoke to the Mirror. “The physical stuff has gone away a lot, but conversations of a sexual nature are extremely common,” he said.
The Mirror can also reveal more than 30 current and former McDonald’s workers have joined a legal action against the company since new claims emerged just a week ago, taking the number now to more than 750.
Matty says his only other job before starting at McDonald’s aged 16 was as a paperboy. “I started noticing people having conversations of an overtly sexual nature, and trying to include you in that as well,” he said. “They’d be questions like, ‘have you lost your virginity?’ or ‘how big is your d**k?’ It is what they would have called jokey banter. It started as low level. It was the culture – it was pretty widespread.”
Current McDonald’s worker says: ‘Conversations of a sexual nature are extremely common’
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He says it then escalated: “We had this guy who would come in every day and slap peoples’ bums. He would go along the line, one by one, girls, boys, old, young. It was almost like a handshake, like a greeting.” Matty says he stayed at McDonald’s because of the pay and his friends, but has joined the legal action to try to change the culture.
Asked what he would say to young people thinking of working at McDonald’s, he says: “I would say, ‘think very carefully about your decision. If it is the only place to work and you need to, you are risking it. But if you have any other offer on the table, don’t work there’. He has worked in more than one, and the issue is with one.
“They look at us like robots. We don’t exactly do a skilled job. They kind of just hire anyone who has hands and can do the job.” McDonald’s was unable to comment on the specific case but insisted duty of care to its employees was its priority.
A McDonald’s spokesperson 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.
“Our relentless focus on eliminating all forms of harassment at McDonald’s is led by a newly created team and informed by the experience and guidance of external experts. Working at speed they have already rolled-out company-wide programmes to improve safeguarding, drive awareness and enhance training.
“We have also recruited our first Head of Safeguarding and in addition to the four speak up channels already available, and have introduced a new, easy to use, digital speak-up channel, Red Flags. This provides employees in all company-owned and franchised restaurants the opportunity to speak up confidentially, at any time, via a channel they are comfortable with.”
:: Do you work at McDonald’s and want to tell us your experience? Email graham.hiscott@mirror.co.uk