Every branch in Britain warned over staff sexual abuse | Global News Avenue

Everyone in McDonald’s in the UK has been warned that their owners may face legal action if they do not take steps to protect their employees from sexual abuse.

Equal Supervision Authority has written to all 1,400 branches telling them that they must comply with their legal responsibilities, or BBC investigation The toxic culture of sexual assault and harassment was discovered.

In January, McDonald’s workers told us they Still facing sexual harassment More than a year after its CEO promised to clean up the fast food chain.

McDonald’s said it does everything possible to ensure a safe working environment for all employees.

It added: “We are confident that the plan we have is running.”

The BBC saw a letter from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

We asked a current McDonald’s employee who works in a chartered restaurant in southwest Scotland for that. He told us that he hopes intervention can bring “concrete change” to people like him.

The 19-year-old worker said Alan told us in January that he had been verbally abused by colleagues several times and faced “gay insults.”

Allen is still working there. He said things weren’t very different and he wanted to “get rid of them.”

The EHRC letter called the allegations in our investigation “disturbing” and pointed out that there had been “repeated events”.

The vast majority of McDonald’s restaurants are operated by franchises, which means individual operators have licenses to run the store and hire employees.

February 2023Watchdog reached a legally binding agreement with McDonald’s to prevent sexual harassment in its restaurants.

The agreement does not cover the franchise.

But in its latest letter, EHRC said that all businesses in the UK, big or small, must comply with the Equality Act.

“It is your responsibility to ensure that any anti-discrimination and harassment measures you are currently taking are effective and take any necessary steps to protect your workers,” EHRC CEO John Kirkpatrick told the restaurant.

The letter clarifies “reasonable steps” restaurants can take to prevent sexual harassment.

These include regular risk assessments, ensuring appropriate protection of young and more vulnerable workers, and the sensitive and effective handling of complaints through established procedures.

It added that any charter restaurant that does not comply with its legal duties “may be at risk of performing actions.”

EHRC has a range of legal enforcement powers that are in line with its openness, including the ability to initiate formal investigations.

If the organization repeatedly refuses to comply, the watchdog can take it to the court through the court where unlimited fines can be issued.

Liam Byrne, chairman of the Business and Trade Options Commission, said the BBC’s investigation into McDonald’s abuse “exposed malfeasance, which is completely unacceptable”.

He called on the EHRC to explain “why now only write to McDonald’s new responsibilities under the law to prevent sexual harassment when it came into effect nearly six months ago”.

This is particularly worrying, he said, as regulators have been aware of hundreds of harassment allegations for years. ”

He added: “The Parliamentary Committee has now found the vitality of its law enforcement disappointing twice. It is now crucial for the public to reassure it, not to bend the curve.”

In response, Mr Kirkpatrick said: “We believe the best way to get improvement is to work with willing management teams to achieve real change.”

He added: “We can take action on the business. If we need to do that, that’s what we want to do.”

The BBC first began investigating McDonald’s working conditions more than two years ago after the fast food chain reached an agreement with the EHRC.

July 2023, We have published a preliminary investigationThis reports on the claims of workers, some of whom are only 17 years old, and are almost often groped and harassed.

At that time, McDonald’s apologized and established a new department to handle the complaints.

Since then, more than 160 people have contacted the BBC through allegations when EHRC heard 300 reported harassment incidents.

• A 19-year-old worker said the manager would “modify” other staff members and some colleagues were afraid to go to work. Last year, he withdrew from the central region.
• A 21-year-old worker said the manager touched her inappropriately and the client sexually harassed her. When she raised it, she said she was told to “suck it up.” She quit her job in the West Midlands at the end of 2023.
• A 16-year-old employee in the West Midlands said he was bullied, yelled and sworn in.
• A 20-year-old man said a male manager sent her a nude photo. She left McDonald’s branch in August.

Earlier this year, we reported that Watchdogs planned to intervene again, “in light of our work at the company and the serious allegations raised by the BBC investigation.”

The BBC understands that the action plan will involve strengthening existing measures – including providing more training and investigating workers and announcing new steps.

Since the initial investigation, Alistair Macrow, the boss of McDonald’s in the UK, has been called twice to answer MPs’ questions.

He said in January 29 people In the past 12 months, allegations of sexual harassment have been dismissed.

A McDonald’s spokesman said in a statement that the agreement with EHRC signed “is intended to continue to develop to ensure that the strong measures we achieve are aligned with any updated guidance.”

It said the letter was “a reminder of our franchisees that their legal obligations to provide their employees with a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace – a legal requirement for all employers, and added that it “welcomes” any steps, which means it will continue to make progress in the field.

It said, along with its franchisees, it is committed to doing everything it can to ensure a safe working environment for all employees and to take actions and measures as part of the cultural action plan.

“These actions include everything from enhanced training programs and onboarding practices to launching a new Digital Speak Up channel,” a spokesperson said.

“We are confident that we have developed plans to work on and employ nearly 170,000 people currently employed by McDonald’s and our franchisees across McDonald’s in the UK and Ireland.”

They added that its latest survey of anonymous employees showed that 94% knew the way they could say it.

If you are affected by any of the problems in this story, you can go through BBC action line.

Some names in this story have been changed to protect identity.