ANALYSIS: Three Takeaways from McDonald’s Toxic Culture Debacle

In 2018, McDonald’s Corp. faced a crisis in governance after allegations of a widespread culture of sexual harassment and employee misconduct surfaced. McDonald’s implemented several initiatives to remedy its workplace culture. Specifically, in 2019, the board took severe action by terminating CEO Steve Easterbrook and Chief People Officer David Fairhurst for their misconduct toward female subordinate employees.

But two significant developments in January—one judicial and one regulatory—show that repercussions from the matter are still ongoing. These rulings have redefined precedent for a corporate officer’s duty of oversight and heightened requirements for a company’s proper SEC corporate disclosure.

The McDonald’s story ...