McDonald’s signs legal agreement following multiple sexual harassment claims

McDonald’s has signed a legally binding agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) following extensive allegations of sexual harassment at the fast food company.  Complaints were raised by the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, which claimed that in 2019 more than 1,000 cases of sexual harassment had been reported in McDonalds’ UK operations

McDonald’s has signed a pledge with the EHRC that commits it to a number of  measures to protect its employees.  These include:

• Communicating a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment
• Conducting an anonymous survey of workers about workplace safety
• Enhancing policies and procedures to prevent sexual harassment and improve responses to complaints
• Delivering anti-harassment training for employees
• Introducing specific training and materials to help managers identify areas of risk within their restaurants and take steps to prevent sexual harassment
• Supporting the uptake of policy and training materials by franchisees within their independent organisations to support reporting of sexual harassment
• Monitoring progress towards a safe, respectful and inclusive working environment

Alistair Macrow, CEO for McDonald’s in the UK and Ireland said: “We will partner with the EHRC to bolster our best practice training and reporting approaches across our business to ensure that our values are understood, lived and acted upon across our organisation. Harassment and abuse have no place in our society or at McDonald’s.”