One of the allegations years ago related to a 17-year-old Plymouth employee, who claimed a senior manager assaulted her
Husna Anjum Senior Reporter and Graham Hiscott
10:12, 22 Apr 2026Updated 17:33, 22 Apr 2026
McDonald’s customers have been urged to spend Rewards points before March 17 (stock)(Image: VV Shots via Getty Images)
The new boss of McDonald’s admits ‘bad behaviour’ is still a problem in restaurants adding it’s ‘naive’ to deny it, despite ‘dramatic’ improvements. It comes three years after a sexual harassment scandal was first exposed at the franchise.
The fast food giant was accused of having a toxic culture in which staff as young as 17-years-old suffered a catalogue of abuse, including groping, racism, homophobia, and bullying. Many of the claims were against managers in the firm’s franchisee-run restaurants.
Locally, in Plymouth, a 17-year-old alleged a senior manager choked and groped her. After an initial BBC investigation in 2023, McDonald’s apologised and set up a new unit to deal with complaints.
The Mirror reports Lauren Schultz, chief executive of McDonald’s in the UK and Ireland, claimed its processes were now “best in class”. Yet she also admitted it was still having to deal with the result of what she called “bad behaviour”.
She told the Mirror: “We have a handling unit and they are tier based in terms of severity. We look into them and assess them and from there make sure that we have the right processes in place to hold people accountable if they persist.
Photo of McDonald’s.(Image: Getty Images)
“We have not seen an over abundance of them. I’m not going to be naive and say we have no bad behaviour issues, but they have been dramatically reduced.
“I think our franchisee base truly understands the policies we have. I would uphold us as best in industry at this point on our safeguarding programmes.”
She added: “The issues that we are solving within our restaurant space aren’t just McDonald’s issues, I think they are systemic industry issues. Our processes, I think, make us best in class.”
The ongoing complaints she was referring to are believed to cover topics across the aboard. The original BBC investigation included allegations from more than 100 current and recent UK staff at McDonald’s outlets.
They included a former worker who was 17-years-old when a senior manager at a Plymouth restaurant allegedly choked her and grabbed her bottom. She says a shift manager also sent her sexually explicit images.
Elsewhere, a manager in Hampshire was said to have suggested a 16-year-old male worker perform sexual acts in exchange for vapes. Ms Shultz, who took over last September, was speaking as McDonald’s announced the launch of what it called the UK’s largest work experience programme.
The chain is offering 2,500 paid five-day placements in the first year to young people aged 25 and under. Ms Shultz insisted the move was not an attempt to deflect attention from the harassment controversy.
“This is not a rebound campaign,” is how she put it. “This is something that we have been building for a year based on wanting to create experiences for young people.
“We know they want to get into the workplace but they can’t because they haven’t had that first job.”
McDonald’s already offers work experience but on a more localised basis. The new move means it is company-wide in the UK. Around 90% of its restaurants are run by franchisees who have an average seven outlets each.
Of its 160,000 employees in the UK, 100,000 are aged under 25. Those under aged 18 doing work experience will be paid a recommended £9.62 an hour, and over that £12.76.
Ms Shultz has a 13-year-old daughter and was asked whether, given claims made about the chain’s culture, if she would be totally happy for her to work in its restaurants. “I do – they know their first job will be at McDonald’s,” she said.
She also warned the energy crisis caused by the Middle East war could force it to raise its prices.
“Like any business we have to measure cost pressures with where prices need to go,” she said, insisting it would remain value for money compared to its competitors.
“There is a predicted slight price increase,” adding that its meal deal and saver items would remain the same, and it was “in deliberations” about when prices would have to go up.
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