SAFETY OF MCDELIVERY RIDERS COMPROMISED BY LONG SHIFTS

<Facebook post by AboveTheLAW>

15 Hour Shifts?

Following our earlier post on the working hours of McDelivery Riders, someone involved in Mcdonald's Delivery Service operations reached out. This individual provided some documents and alleged the following:

1. Some McDelivery Riders are made to work 15 hour shifts at McDonald's.

2. When a Rider is required to work over 13 hours per shift, a secret code system is used in the Rider schedules to secretly indicate the actual working hours to those in the know.

3. According to the schedule shown here, 3 Riders will start work at 1100hrs. 1 of them is scheduled to end shift at 0000hrs while 2 others appear to be scheduled to work ONE MINUTE LONGER till 0001hrs. In reality, the Riders scheduled to work from 1100hrs to 0001hrs are actually required to work till 0200hrs

4. McDonald's online Rider management software known as Rider Supply & Demand System (“RSDS”) will automatically sign-out a Rider that has reached the predetermined/maximum allowable working hours (e.g. at 0001hrs). The McDonald's Manager on duty would then facilitate the same Rider signing-in via RSDS under a different name so that he/she can continue to work. Adjustments would later be made to ensure that the affected Rider is paid for the work performed under a different name.

5. Sometimes a McDelivery Rider who has to work more than 13 hours would punch in using his/her Supervisor’s name even though she never does any deliveries.

6. The shift payment/docket reports (which we may publish soon) will also show that McDelivery Riders work for extended hours without sufficient rest.

7. If there are Overwhelming Orders and/or Insufficient Riders, McDelivery Riders may not get to take a break. Having Insufficient Riders is a daily issue faced by the stores.

8. An hour’s pay is deducted for each shift irrespective of whether or not the Rider gets to take a break. As such, a McDelivery Rider who works for 13 hours may only be paid for 12 hours even if he/she could not take a one hour break.

9. The affected Riders are usually Malaysian nationals who reside in Johor and spend long hours on the road to travel to and from work.

10. McDonald's Managers who have expressed concerns about the safety and well-being of Riders are uncomfortable about being complicit in such arrangements but have no choice in such matters as they are "forced" to comply.

11. The Mcdonald's Delivery Service management team is fully aware of this practice.

We wrote to Mcdonald's Singapore over a week ago to inform them about the allegations. We also requested for them to confirm or deny the existence of such practices. To date, McDonald's has neglected, failed and/or refused to respond.

We hope that Singapore Ministry of Manpower will thoroughly investigate the allegations and disregard the fact that former senior Ministry staff had joined McDonald's.

We are deeply concerned about the issues above and urge McDonald's to conduct their business ethically. We will continue to raise issues relating to ethical business practices. Too many McDelivery Riders have lost their lives. Rider and Public safety must never be compromised.

We encourage Riders, Managers and Crew who have safety/welfare concerns relating to delivery service operations to speak up about these issues. We assure all Riders, Managers and Crew who reach out to us that we will keep their identity confidential from their employer.