Popular fast-food chain continues to face abuse & harassment claims

Popular fast-food chain, McDonald’s, continues to face more employment tribunal harassment claims from its employees.

McDonald’s is once again in the news in relation to employees bringing harassment claims. It seems that despite a round of dismissals and pledges of improvement, its staff members are still allegedly facing sexual abuse and harassment claims a year after the initial allegations were made.

Several hundred claims from current and former employees have been brought against the company, including for sexual harassment, racism, disability discrimination and homophobia. It has been reported that most of the cases involved staff in their late teens, with some as young as 17.

New legislation introduced last October requires employers to proactively take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. This duty extends to protecting staff from harassment by other employees and third parties, such as clients, customers or suppliers. The extent of the new duty poses significant issues in certain industries, with hospitality and retail coming to mind.

While employees cannot bring a standalone claim for breaches of this duty, the EHRC can take enforcement action. Additionally, if a claim is brought alongside others, the legislation gives employment tribunals the power to uplift the compensation by up to 25% where an employer is found to have breached this new duty.

Employers must be prepared to not only put protective measures and training in place, but also to show that they take active steps to identify potential issues and ensure the well-being and safety of their employees. Simply introducing a policy without taking further progressive action to enforce the positive culture will no longer suffice.

What should you do?

The McDonald’s case serves as a clear example where an organisation’s values and culture should be represented from the top, and appropriate training should be put in place to ensure the workforce is well trained and has a good understanding of what is expected in the workplace.

If you have any questions or queries regarding this subject, please get in touch with our team. We will be happy to help you and your business.

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