McDonald's Employee Helpline Solution: Food Stamps
Oct. 24, 2013 — -- McDonald's today responded to a group's posting of a video that portrays the company's help line giving its employees information on how to collect food stamps because they are not paid enough to make ends meet.
A website called LowPayIsNotOk.org, which is described as a campaign of fast food workers in favor of a $15 an hour wage, features a recording of a purported McDonald's worker named Nancy, a mother of two who has worked at the fast food giant full-time for 10 years. The worker, according to the video, says she receives $8.25 an hour and has never received a raise. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.
When Nancy calls McDonald's employee "McResource" help line for assistance to support her family, a female voice tells her she will provide a number for Nancy to receive public assistance.
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"You can ask about things like food pantries. Are you on SNAP? SNAP is a supplemental nutritional assistance program -- food stamps. Do you have kids?"
A spokeswoman for McDonald's provided a statement, defending its McResource line and job opportunities.
"This video is not an accurate portrayal of the resource line as this is very obviously an edited video," according to the statement from McDonald's USA. "The fact is that the McResource Line is intended to be a free, confidential service to help employees and their families get answers to a variety of questions or provide resources on a variety of topics including housing, child care, transportation, grief, elder care, education and more."
McDonald's would not elaborate on what was inaccurate about the video.
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The female voice also tells Nancy she would "most likely" be eligible for SNAP benefits, and that it's a federal program. She later asks if Nancy, "Did you try to get on Medicaid?"
McDonald's says that it and its independent franchisees "provide jobs in every state to hundreds of thousands of people across the country."
"Those jobs range from entry-level part-time to full-time, from minimum wage to salaried positions, and we offer everyone the same opportunity for advancement," McDonald's says.
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