Home Complaints database Corporate Justice Coalition & five trade unions vs. McDonald’s Restaurants Limited
Complaint

Corporate Justice Coalition & five trade unions vs. McDonald’s Restaurants Limited

Gender-based violence and harassment in McDonald’s UK restaurants and franchises

Date filed
28 February 2024
Keywords
Countries of harm
Current status
Under review
Sector
NCP

Allegations

On 28 February 2024, the UK NCP received a complaint against McDonald’s UK filed by Corporate Justice Coalition and five trade unions (Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations Global Union (IUF), European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT-IUF), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and Trades Union Congress (TCU)). The complaint alleges ongoing issues of gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) in McDonald’s restaurants and franchieses in the UK. Specifically, the complaint alleges breaches of Chapter VI (Human Rights) and Chapter V (Employment and Industrial Relations) of the OECD Guidelines.

The complaint was prompted by a July 2023 BBC report of longstanding and widespread sexual harassment in McDonald’s UK-based restaurants, including specific allegations of abuse experienced by UK employees.  The complainants seek the NCP’s assistance to engage McDonald’s top UK management to develop practices to address GBVH in conformity with the OECD guidelines, which could serve as a global model of practices and procedures that McDonald’s headquarters management in the US could adopt and extend to the company’s worldwide operations.

Relevant OECD Guidelines

Outcome

On 8 January 2026, the UK NCP published its initial assessment accepting the complaint. Among other things, the NCP stated the following in relation to the acceptance of the complaint contributing to the effectiveness of the OECD Guidelines:

21. The UK NCP considers that a further examination is required to establish if the processes and procedures that MRL has in place to tackle issue of GBHV are effective and in line with the OECD guidelines. If they are not, the UK NCP considers that accepting this complaint would contribute to the effectiveness of the OECD guidelines, in ensuring more robust MRL policies and processes are in place. This in turn could act as a positive role model for the wider policies and processes of the McDonald’s Corporation.

22. The UK NCP considers that 2 of the key topics that the complainants have flagged for discussion in a potential mediation – that is, grievance mechanisms and stakeholder engagement (particularly in relation to the reported victims) – are areas where a further examination could be helpful to clarify MRL policies and processes. This is especially important given that these issues cut across the paragraphs of the OECD guidelines in the complaint and because research shows that the victims of GBVH can often remain silent. It is currently unclear what steps have been taken by MRL to identify potential victims and ensure that their views are incorporated into policies and processes to tackle GBVH.

23. Furthermore, the UK NCP considers the issue of remediation for the alleged victims of GBVH by MRLs to be unclear throughout the complaint and the response. Given that remediation cuts across most of the paragraphs of the OECD guidelines related to the complaint, the UK NCP considers that further examination of the issues could be beneficial and contribute to the purpose and effectiveness of the OECD guidelines.

While the complaint was initially filed against McDonald’s UK, McDonald’s Restaurants Limited (MRL) were considered the appropriate respondents to the complaint. In its response, MRL stated that it is wholly owned by McDonald’s Corporation (US), but UK-based McDonald’s franchisees are the owners of their restaurants and make all employment decisions in their businesses. According to MRL, 11% of the UK and Ireland market is owned and operated by MRL, while 89% is franchised. MRL expressed concern that due to its corporate structure, the issues raised regarding its franchieses could not be included in the complaint as the franchisees are not listed as respondent companies. On this issue, the UK NCP commented that “the [OECD]  guidelines provide that multinational enterprises could be linked to adverse impacts in a number of circumstances including where a multinational enterprise’s operations, products or services are linked by a business relationship.”

More details

Defendant
Company in violation
Other companies involved
Complainants
Affected people

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