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McDonald’s has dismissed 18 UK employees after establishing a specialist unit over the summer to handle staff complaints about allegations of sexual assault, harassment and bullying, its UK chief executive has told MPs.

Alistair Macrow, chief executive of McDonald’s UK and Ireland division, told the business and trade select committee on Tuesday that the fast-food chain had received 407 complaints about working practices since setting up the investigations unit in July, of which 157 had been investigated and 75 resulted in disciplinary action.

McDonald’s set up the unit after a BBC investigation in July revealed persistent issues with groping, harassment and bullying even after the fast-food chain had signed a legally binding agreement with the UK equalities watchdog earlier in the year promising to clear up its act.

Of the 75 complaints that resulted in disciplinary action, 17 related to sexual harassment cases, nine concerned reports of bullying and there was one instance of racism, according to Macrow. Macrow said 18 employees had been fired following internal investigations but said he was unaware if any of the complaints had escalated to the police.

MPs pressed Macrow over his responsibility for the level of staff protections at the chain, which employs more than 170,000 workers across its 1,450 UK restaurants, and whether the company’s franchised model, which accounts for 89 per cent of its restaurants, contributed to the workplace issues.

McDonald’s has also been hit by accusations of a toxic work culture in its home market of the US. Earlier this year, a franchise McDonald’s operator in Nevada, Arizona and California agreed to pay out almost $2mn to settle sexual harassment claims.

Liam Byrne, a Labour MP who chairs the committee, said that despite the protocols that Macrow had put in place during his tenure as chief executive “there is now a culture not of standardised good practice, but standardised bad practice”. Andy McDonald, another Labour MP on the committee, asked: “If this has happened on your watch and your duty of care, and these are the standards you hold yourself to, why are you still in a job?”

Macrow described the testimonies from McDonald’s staff — seven of which were shared anonymously with the committee — as “truly horrific”. He said he was “absolutely determined to root out any of these behaviours, identify individuals who are responsible for them and make sure they are eradicated from our business”.

He said McDonald’s had not terminated any of its 193 franchisees as a result of recent complaints of sexual harassment. Responding to queries from parliamentarians about how McDonald’s upholds standards at its franchised restaurants, Macrow said: “We absolutely do make sure that we understand the performance in all franchisees restaurants, and we will spend more time in restaurants that appear to be underperforming.”

Investigations into 249 staff complaints since July are still ongoing, of which 27 relate to cases of sexual harassment, Macrow added.

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