McDonald's Controversial Employee Website Finally Taken Down
Dec. 26, 2013— -- After a series of postings that caused embarrassment for the company, McDonald's said it will close its employee assistance website.
In the latest gaffe, earlier this week McDonald's employees were warned by the company's McResource website about the health dangers of eating fast food.
Read More: McDonald's Employee Website Warns Workers About the Health Risks from Eating Fast Food
The website set up for the hamburger chain's workers has drawn controversy for its advice, coming under fire from fast food workers advocating for higher wages. The worker group under Low Pay is Not OK earlier sent out a recorded phone call in which a McDonald's employee was advised to look into food stamps for assistance. And another portion of the site offered advice on how much to tip housekeepers and others who were clearly not in the sights of many of the chain's workers.
Lisa McComb, a spokeswoman for McDonald's, provided a statement to ABCNews.com that read, "We have offered the McResource program to help our valued McDonald's employees with work and life guidance created by independent third party experts. A combination of factors has led us to re-evaluate, and we've directed the vendor to take down the website. Between links to irrelevant or outdated information, along with outside groups taking elements out of context, this created unwarranted scrutiny and inappropriate commentary. None of this helps our McDonald's team members. We'll continue to provide service to them through an internal telephone help line, which is how the majority of employees access the McResource services."
The McResource website previously said, "Fast foods are quick, reasonably priced, and readily available alternatives to home cooking. While convenience and inexpensive for a busy lifestyle, fast foods are typically high in calories, fat saturated fat, sugar and salt."
Read More: McDonald's Employee Helpline Solution: Food Stamps
Next to an image of a burger, fries and soda, was the text, "Eating a diet in high fat puts people at risk for becoming overweight."
In response, McDonald's said that it agreed with the third-party advice about "healthy eating and making balanced choices," but that "portions of the website continue to be taken entirely out of context."
Read More: McDonald's Defends Telling Workers to 'Quit Complaining' to Reduce Stress
