More than 100 UK McDonald’s workers — many of them of underage — were subjected to abuse by their managers that ranged from bullying to sexual assault, according to an explosive investigation by the BBC.
The BBC launched its probe into the American fast-food giant in February after the company signed an agreement with Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to protect staff from sexual harassment.
Over the course of the next five months, the BBC’s probe uncovered instances where McDonald’s managers allegedly sent teenage workers explicit images, pressured subordinates into performing sexual acts and called co-workers racial slurs.
Of more than 100 alleged breaches of the contract with the nation’s equity agency, 78 were related to sexual harassment, 31 to sexual assault, 18 to racism and six to homophobia, according to the BBC report published Tuesday.
Among the most shocking was a claim by a current, 17-year-old employee at a McDonald’s location in Cheshire, England, who alleged her 37-year-old supervisor asked to show her his penis, called her a racial slur and said he wanted to make a “black and white” baby with her, the BBC reported.
Another worker at a branch in Norwich, England, said the managers there had policy to put “attractive people at the front” of the burger joint:
“T-ts on tills — boys in the kitchen, girls on the counter,” the 22-year-old worker, identified as Lucy, told the BBC.
McDonald’s, one of the UK’s largest private-sector employers, has roughly 1,450 restaurants across the Commonwealth, where it staffs 117,000 Brits.
Of those workers, three-quarters are between the ages of 16 and 25, the BBC reported.
McDonald’s chief executive in the UK and Ireland, Alistair Macrow, told The Post in a statement that its employees “deserve to work in a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace.”
“There are clearly instances where we have fallen short and for that we deeply apologize,” Macrow added.
Macrow continued: “There is simply no place for harassment, abuse, or discrimination of any kind at McDonald’s — and we will investigate all allegations brought to us, and all proven breaches of our code of conduct will be met with the most severe measures we can legally impose, up to and including dismissal.”
It’s unclear if McDonald’s has already fired any workers over the sexual abuse claims.
The EHRC told The Post that “under the Equality Act 2010, employers are legally responsible if an employee is sexually harassed at work by another employee, if the employer has not taken all possible steps to prevent it from happening.”
It’s not immediately clear what litigation McDonald’s is facing in response to the BBC’s findings.
The BBC probe found several other troubling claims.
Shelby, who was 16 when she started working at McDonald’s in Berkshire, England, last year, told the BBC that older male colleagues would “grope stomachs, waists, bums,” citing the kitchen’s cramped layout as an excuse.
“Every shift I worked, there would be at least a comment being made, or I’d be brushed, a hand brushed across me, or it would be a more severe thing, like having my bum grabbed, hips grabbed,” she added.
Shelby noted said that there was a particular male employee in his 50s that young women were “warned” to stay away from, and it made her work in “constant fear.”
However, she recalled an incident where she still fell victim to this man, when he came up behind her and pulled her into his groin one day last summer.
“I just froze,” she told the BBC. “I felt disgusted.”
Shelby then quit her job, citing a “toxic work environment.” She also informed senior management about the inappropriate move, though nothing was done.
Emily — a 20-something worker who quit her job at a McDonald’s in Brighton, England, last year — told the outlet that a male colleague in his 60s would stroke her hair in a sexually suggestive way that often made her feel uncomfortable.
Another unnamed worker currently employed by the fast-food giant said her male counterparts referred to her as “fresh meat,” and other female staffers said male managers forced them to wear uniforms that were too small.
At a McDonald’s in Cheshire, England, meanwhile, 17-year-old Chinyere said she was sexually and racially harassed by a much older, male colleague.
When she reported the abuse to a senior female co-worker responsible for staff wellbeing, Chinyere was told to ignore the man and go back to work.
It wasn’t until the teenager’s stepfather wrote to the franchise, its corporate headquarters and the police department that Chinyere’s assailant was fired, according to the BBC.
Also at a Cheshire branch, a group of 16-year-old girls who were new to McDonald’s workforce also claimed they were preyed on by a manager that pressured them into having sex, the BBC found.
In Plymouth, England, a former worker said that when she was 17, a senior manager grabber her bottom and a shift manager sent her sexually explicit images, according to the BBC.
” apologized in a statement to The Post.
A 16-year-old male staffer told the outlet that while working at a McDonald’s in Hampshire, England, a manager encouraged him to perform sexual acts in exchange for e-cigarettes.
Over in Wales, England, male managers and staffers reportedly put cash bets on which of them could sleep with a new employee first. And at a McDonald’s outpost in Northern Ireland, there was an outbreak of gonorrhea among workers because sexual relations between employees was commonplace, according to the BBC.
The outlet also found a slew of cases involving verbal abuse. In one case, an Indian-born woman working at a McDonald’s in Oxfordshire, England, said crew members called her a Pakistani terrorist and spoke “gibberish” to imitate her native language.
The EHRC set up an anonymous email hotline for other possible victims of harassment at McDonald’s locations throughout the UK.
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