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 A photograph circulating on social media showed a notice pinned up
at the McDonald's in Hyeres near Marseille in southern France,
reading:
"After an incident on July 25th, it is absolutely forbidden to
provide food to vagrants, as a reminder, the team's meals should be
eaten on the premises. Meals for team members are a personal benefit
and are to be enjoyed only by the worker in question."
The notice went on to say: "McDonald's is not in the business of
feeding all the hungry people in the land," and concluded: "Any
diversion from the procedure cited above will result in sanction
that could lead to dismissal."
A statement from McDonald's France said the notice was put up after
a "serious incident" involving two homeless people in front of the
restaurant in question, and that it was aimed at keeping the
premises safe for its customers.
"The process and the formulation was clearly clumsy, the restaurant
management quickly removed the notice," the statement said.
"McDonald's and the restaurant apologize to all those who may have
been shocked by this notice and state that the brand is dedicated to
serving all its clients without discrimination," the statement
added.
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A spokeswoman declined to say what McDonald's France's policy was on
giving away employee meals, and would not elaborate on the
statement.
McDonald's has a mixture of directly-owned and franchised outlets in
France, the first of which opened in 1979. It has more than 1,200
restaurants across the country employing over 69,000 people.
(Reporting by Andrew Callus; editing by Andrew Roche)
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