7 Rules McDonald's Employees Are Never Allowed To Break

McDonald's is one of the biggest fast food chains in the world, with more than 44,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. As soon as you see that golden M, wherever you are in the world, you know that french fries, burgers, and ice-cold soda are waiting for you. But what most customers don't know is what it's like behind the scenes for the hundreds of thousands of workers who keep McDonald's running every day. 

It turns out, McDonald's employees have to follow quite a few different rules. As well as the obvious things, like good timekeeping and keeping things clean and tidy, there are a few slightly unexpected policies that McDonald's employees are supposed to follow. Some of them relate to the assembly of a Big Mac, while others are all about how they look. Yes, really.

We scoured Reddit, interviews with McDonald's employees, and franchise handbooks to find out the rules that workers are never allowed to break. Although, of course, in some cases, they absolutely do.

Most of us know that hand washing is an essential part of maintaining good hygiene. This is because our hands harbor bacteria. In fact, between our fingertips and our elbows, research suggests there are up to 10 million bacteria. Most of the time, this bacteria is harmless, but sometimes, it can lead to an increased risk of foodborne disease if it's not washed away before preparing food. That's why McDonald's workers who cook and handle food are supposed to wash their hands with antimicrobial soap every 30 minutes.

McDonald's workers aren't supposed to break these rules, but sometimes, they have no choice. In 2020, a worker from a McDonald's in San Jose filed a complaint with the Santa Clara County Public Health Department claiming that employees were unable to wash their hands due to plumbing issues. This would be a problem at any point in time, but remember what was going on in 2020? Yeah. It's not good.

Some stores have tried to help workers remember to wash their hands by installing timers. But when one Redditor set up a poll in 2023 asking fellow employees if they actually followed the hand wash timer, 94 people of the 182 that responded said they didn't. Nearly 40 people said that they didn't have a timer and that people didn't wash their hands enough, while 26 said they didn't have a timer, but workers still washed their hands regularly. "In my store we use common sense," said one Redditor.

McDonald's loves to run games and contests for customers. Over the years, it has experimented with many different concepts, including Scrabble, Build a Big Mac, and even flexi-disc giveaways. But one of the biggest and most popular McDonald's contests has to be its McDonald's Monopoly. To play the game, customers collect digital or physical game pieces from their menu packaging, and each piece gives them a chance to win a prize. For most, the reward is free food, but there are also big money prizes and vacations up for grabs, too.

You might think that the people with the best chance of winning a prize are McDonald's workers, but actually, they're not allowed to play. That's probably because McDonald's has been burned before. Back in the early 2000s, in one of the biggest scandals ever to hit McDonald's, an employee of the marketing company running the Monopoly contest was arrested for scamming the fast food chain out of millions by rigging the game. 

So it's no surprise that, according to some workers, if an employee is found playing McDonald's Monopoly, they risk getting fired. "Don't risk your job just for an order of free fries," warned one employee in the r/McDonaldsEmployees subreddit. 

McDonald's runs on a franchise model, meaning that rules can vary from location to location. For many franchisees, staff appearance is a big priority. Most expect employees to come to work in clean clothes, for example, but some take things a little further, instructing that all workers must have manicured nails, shower daily, and only wear subtle jewelry. Some places don't allow body jewelry, according to employees, and others don't like employees to have dyed hair.

But again, policies vary from restaurant to restaurant. Some say that their franchisees are very relaxed. One person wrote in the r/McDonaldsEmployees subreddit: "Our store is 'please show up in a McDonald's shirt' level of dress code lax." Others say that their locations only step things up in terms of appearance when they know an inspection from corporate is around the corner.

For some, one of the highlights of working at McDonald's is the free food. Many franchises choose to give employees a free meal if they work over a certain amount of hours, for example, while others offer a hefty discount instead. But unfortunately, in many places, employees are not allowed to share these perks with friends and family. The Lewis Family, for example, which runs several McDonald's locations across Ohio, allows employees to use their discount when ordering with a group of people, but the order must be placed by them and them alone.

In some locations, giving away free food to friends can result in serious consequences, like being suspended, fired, or worse. "My franchise considers that theft. Theft = fired at my franchise, and possible charges filed," said one Redditor in the r/McDonaldsEmployees thread. That said, some franchisees are more generous than others, and managers have been known to give away freebies to their favorite customers. "It definitely depends on the location and your title," said one employee on Reddit.

If you go to McDonald's and order, say, a Big Mac, you have a fair idea of what it's going to look and taste like, with its sesame seed bun, two beef patties, lettuce, onion, pickles, and sauce. And there's a reason for that. It's not just the ingredients; it's the way they're stacked in the burger.

In fact, McDonald's employees have to follow a certain order to ensure the flavors and textures are just as the customer expects them to be. The cheese has to go on the bottom, for example, and the pickles are in the middle. For the McDouble, the cheese must always be placed between the beef burgers so it melts correctly. In some stores, managers will do random spot checks to ensure burgers are being assembled in the right order.

If you think the rule is trivial, many employees will tell you it's not. Customers can actually tell the difference. "Someone got their sauce below the patty in the drive-thru whilst I was working in the front area," recalled one Reddit user in the r/McLounge subreddit. "The customer came in and [threw] it at my face in front of my manager because we made the burger incorrectly."

In its Global Statement of Principles Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation, McDonald's makes its stance on inclusivity clear. It explains that it won't tolerate discrimination, and it expects all of its employees to always treat each other with respect. Among many behaviors, like unwelcome physical and verbal conduct, it lists gossip and rumor-spreading as unacceptable. 

McDonald's employees are not supposed to break these rules, but according to many workers, gossip is still a pretty common occurrence. In fact, one employee said in the r/McDonaldsEmployees subreddit that gossip was "inevitable," and that their coworkers frequently talk about each other. Another added, "[It's] pretty common, and more when the majority of the staff are either young adults and teenagers."

Some McDonald's stores have stretched the definition of gossip, and even indicated that talking about wages with colleagues is an example of inappropriate chat and could be punished. However, it's important to note that firing someone for discussing wages is illegal in the U.S. and that the location was reported.

If you've ever been tempted to walk through the drive-thru to get your fast food fix, we have some bad news: McDonald's won't allow their employees to serve you unless you're in a car. This is primarily a safety issue for the customer, as there are no pavements or safe areas for them to stand while they make their order. It's also a potential security risk, as people may be able to reach in the drive-thru window more easily when they're on foot.

That said, McDonald's has experimented with walk-thrus in the past. In 2016, for example, one North Wales location decided to allow some customers to walk through the usual drive-thru between the hours of 2:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. on a Saturday (aka, when people are craving a late-night, drunken snack). 

It's important to note, though, that in most places, this isn't possible. It's not just a case of McDonald's being overly cautious either, as there have been serious accidents at McDonald's drive-thrus before. In 2025 in Nebraska, a man was crushed to death by his own vehicle after he got out of his car to make a payment at the window. In 2021, another man was killed when he got out of his car to pick up his card at a McDonald's drive-thru in Canada.

McDonald's isn't the first choice for many people on holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas, but the restaurant still stays open in many locations. Customers might pop in for a few reasons, like they've been driving a long way to see family and they're hungry, or they're alone and simply don't feel like cooking over the festive period. Others might have been working themselves, and want to pick up an easy hot meal on the way home.

Unfortunately for some employees, though, this means that they have to be open to working over the holidays. While some franchises choose to close over major holidays, others make sure the requirement to be available is known by putting it in employee handbooks. But it's not all bad news. Some genuinely don't mind working over the festive period, especially if they get extra pay. "Double pay and it's dead quiet, I got nothing better to do so might as well earn extra money," said one employee in the r/McDonaldsEmployees subreddit.