A group of Democratic senators, including several presidential candidates, is pressuring McDonald’s to step up its efforts to combat sexual harassment and workplace misconduct at its locations nationwide.
The eight Democrats, four of whom are running for president, sent a letter to McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook on Tuesday urging him to require franchisees to adopt updated policies regarding workplace harassment, abuse, and retaliation in the wake of “unacceptable” reports of misconduct. They also want to know how McDonald’s will implement the new procedures and investigate claims of harassment and abuse.
“McDonald’s already places enormous requirements on its franchisees, including down to granular tasks and food preparation techniques,” they said. “Yet, when working to protect McDonald’s workers, you have chosen a different approach that settles on merely ‘encouraging’ and ‘offering’ new policies and resources to franchise operations.”
The fast-food giant, the Democrats wrote, is “sending the wrong message about its priorities and corporate values and undercutting its own efforts to address these problems” and must “make every effort to guarantee a safe workplace for all workers who wear a McDonald’s uniform.”
The request comes after more than two dozen current and past McDonald’s employees filed complaints against the company with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and in court last month. The McDonald’s workers detailed instances of groping, verbal harassment, indecent exposure, and retaliation.
“The McDonald’s Corporation must do more to combat workplace harassment, abuse and retaliation suffered by McDonald’s workers across the country,” the Democratic senators said. “After carefully reviewing your public statements and documents, we main troubled that the procedures, policies and activities outlined fall short of providing a safe and respectful work environment for all workers who wear the McDonald’s uniform.”
Joe Jasper of the National Franchise Leadership Alliance, an elected body that represents McDonald’s franchisees in the U.S., said the group is working to provide employees the “support and resources they need to work in a safe environment that fosters opportunities and trust.”
“There are serious and important conversations continuing all across our country to safeguard the rights of individuals. As owners of small businesses in almost every community, we spend our days in our restaurants and see our team’s as an extension of our family,” Jasper said in a statement. “No level of harassment has a place inside a McDonald’s. We take seriously our responsibility to ensure that individuals who report harassment or retaliation are heard and protected. We’ve also sought to do much more than listen.”
Democratic Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, signed the letter.
Of McDonald’s 14,000 locations nationwide, the vast majority are operated by franchisees. The fast-food company is the world’s second-largest private employer.
