MORE THAN 700 McDonald’s workers have joined a sexual abuse and harassment class-action lawsuit a year after its British boss promised to clean up behaviour at the fast-food chain.

Leigh Day legal firm said over 450 restaurants have been implicated in the allegations with claims including discrimination, homophobia, racism, ableism and harassment since a BBC exposé into the allegations in 2023.

One 19-year-old crew member has told of how his colleagues were scared of going into work, and that managers would “touch up” other members of staff.

A woman told of a shift manager in his 30s asking her for sex in return for extra shifts when she was 17.

The woman, who worked at a branch on a zero-hours contract in the Midlands until May 2023, told the BBC: “You don’t expect that to happen. It was totally inappropriate.”

She refused but said that she felt dependent on her managers for work: “I was always asking for more shifts, as I needed more money.”

Across Britain, 89 per cent of McDonalds workers are on zero-hours contracts.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “No-one should ever find themselves in the position of being asked to exchange sex for shifts. It’s abhorrent — the McDonald’s CEO has serious questions to answer.  

“Zero-hours contracts create a huge imbalance of power in the workplace that leaves workers vulnerable to predatory bosses. 

“This is why cracking down on exploitative working practices like zero-hours contracts and giving people stronger protections at work is so important. 

“McDonald’s is one of the largest employers in the UK. It should be setting the standard on workforce conditions — not leading a race to the bottom.” 

McDonald’s promised to protect its staff from sexual harassment in a legally binding agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission in July 2023 five months after a BBC exposé into the allegations.

The watchdog has received 300 incident reports since and vowed to take  stronger action “in light of serious allegations raised” against the fast-food chain.

Leigh Day says any current McDonald’s staff aged under 20 may be eligible to join its no-win no-free legal action against McDonald’s.

The claim is also open to those who experienced harassment, directly or indirectly, left McDonald’s after July 2019, and were under 20 at the time of leaving.

Yesterday the chief executive of McDonald’s UK and Ireland Alistair Macrow told MPs that fresh sexual harassment allegations from staff at the fast food giant are “abhorrent” and that 29 workers have been fired.

But he insisted during a business and trade committee session that the chain’s actions to deal with the problem are working.

A total of 75 allegations were made over the period, leading to 47 cases of disciplinary action, he said.

Mr Macrow also revealed that 15 franchisees have left McDonald’s over the last five years due to under-performance.

Six of those were for failing to meet the standard for people practices, he said.

Mr Macrow added: “Those allegations described are abhorrent, unacceptable and there is no place for them in McDonald’s.

“There cannot be any room in our business for people who behave in that manner.

“The measures that are put in place mean that we are able to offer a secure, safe workplace where people are respected and feel included.

“I hear from our people that it is working.”

A McDonald’s spokesman said the chain has done “extensive work” to make its workplaces safer.

“Any incident of misconduct and harassment is unacceptable and subject to rapid and thorough investigation and action,” they said.

They added that the company has set up a dedicated team to tackle the problem, which has “already rolled out company-wide programmes to improve safeguarding, drive awareness and enhance training.”