McDonald's has agreed an additional set of measures with Britain's equality watchdog to protect the fast food chain's staff from sexual abuse.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) had originally signed a legal agreement with McDonald's to prevent sexual harassment by 2023, following concerns about how complaints made by staff in its UK restaurants were handled.
The original agreement was due to end in 2025, but has now been strengthened and extended for at least a year.
In March, the regulator was forced to write a letter to McDonald's franchise owners in the UK warning them they could face legal action if they did not comply.
The EHRC said on Friday it needed to agree “stronger action” with McDonald's, but was satisfied with the steps the group was now taking.
Earlier this year, more than 700 people who were 19 or younger when they worked at McDonald's instructed law firm Leigh Day to take legal action on their behalf.
As of February, more than 450 McDonald's restaurants had been implicated in the complaints, which described discrimination, homophobia, racism, ableism and harassment.
Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chair of the EHRC, said: “We originally signed a legal agreement with McDonald's to prevent sexual harassment in 2023.
“After serious allegations surfaced, we decided we needed to update the action plan with stronger actions that were more specific to the way McDonald's operates.
“We are pleased with the important steps McDonald's has agreed to take to achieve a safer working environment for its staff and recognize the hard work they have done so far.
“Once completed, the actions that make up this legal agreement will ensure that there is zero tolerance for harassment at McDonald's and that there are clear routes for reporting and resolving complaints if it occurs.”
The strengthened steps McDonald's must take under the new agreement include working with external experts on a new safeguarding plan to protect vulnerable workers, which will be implemented in all McDonald's restaurants; ensure that complaints against managers are investigated outside the restaurant; hire a third-party auditor to audit McDonald's new complaints-handling unit and expand training for managers and franchisees to cover social media and personal grooming.
McDonald's is one of Britain's largest employers, with more than 170,000 people working in 1,450 restaurants.
The fast food giant claims that the average age of its employees is 20 years old.
The legal claims follow a separate BBC report from 2023, in which workers spoke of sexual assault, harassment, racism and bullying in the workplace.
That led McDonald's to hire consultants from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to audit its restaurants.
A McDonald's spokeswoman said: “Over the past three years, together with our franchisees, we have introduced a broad set of robust and far-reaching initiatives, as part of our strong commitment to ensuring a safe work environment in McDonald's restaurants.
“We welcome the fact that these measures have been formalized in the latest EHRC agreement.
“This will build on the significant progress we have already made in this space.
“The agreement incorporates many of our existing measures which have been developed in consultation with leading experts.
“We are confident that the measures we have put in place are working and making a difference to the 148,000 people currently working at McDonald's and our franchisees across the UK.”
