Son (17 yrs old) received investigation letter for gross misconduct

[JustV]

My son has started working at the end of October 2025. He was really happy, exited and really liked his job. However, be was suspended today (after he finished his shift) and was given letter for investigation meeting, gross misconduct.
Allegations are: abuse or failure to follow any of the company's policies or procedures also insubordination and failure to obey instructions or perform work as required or defined. Only 2 incidents mentioned. No evidence provided. He cooked 8 meats instead of 6 and 4 pattys instead of 2. I can't see this as gross misconduct. It wasn't mentioned what specific policy/ procedure he breached. It was second time he was cooking pattys. No previous worning given. I find this to harsh. He is new in a very quick phased job, he follows instructions and listens to his mangers and if this happened it was genuine mistake. How we should approach this? His wasn't properly trained, no clear communication (one manager says this another something else), no warning given, he needs to work quickly and sometimes he hasn't got enough time to think.

She already said it’s McDonald’s

It’s up to him how badly he wants that job, but if his version is correct and they’re doing all this for a few patties I’d be running for the hills, there’s plenty other hospitality jobs waiting for him.

Alternatively there’s a chance he’s been told multiple times and he just ignored instructions……………….

Gross Misconduct is usually nicking something, or chinning someone, or getting pissed on the job.

I think it's possible that your son, being so young, really didn't think that making some extras would be such a bit deal. He may not have even thought of it as stealing.

What he needs to do now, either way, is try to move on and find ways to get good references. As he's only 17, any gaps in employment won't be as visible or questioned. He might want to do some volunteering too since that's another way he could get a reference.

Wasn't for brother - it was not signing a book and leaving a door unlocked - ie not following procedures - except he had and had a photo of book dated - and actual book had him there and he had a witness to signing - and door wasn't anything to do with him and was not in his job desciption and was in a part of the building he wasn't in.

It's possible there is something OP DS did really wrong but also possible he made minor mistake and managers using it to get rid of him - macdonalds is a know poor employer.

My son worked there too and moved quickly through the ranks to shift manager. He stuck five years of the toxic bullying culture from senior managers and the franchisee, and quit when he was summoned to a disciplinary for “gross misconduct” for something he hadn’t even been on shift for. Like your daughter, he’s much happier now too.

Is it Next?

It's a silly trope that gets endlessly repeated, PinkFrogss, perhaps in the hope it'll be true

Overall I agree with nearly everyone else; there certainly are some awful managers, but also some awful entrants to the world of work who don't always tell the full story when consequences arrive, so it may well be better to resign rather than be sacked, learn from it and move on

OP has said in this case it’s McDonald’s.

ETA - ah, you were asking another poster.

He's not been properly trained yet he cooks meat products that people pay to eat? Another reason i won't go to McDonald's.

YABNU Op, tell him to look for another job.

Thank you everyone for your honest opinion and being kind. Really appreciate. ❤🌺

Gross misconduct is a huge stretch for what you have described

I had a massive twat as my first manager, he was awful, didn’t like me and after my first week told me I had one more chance to get up to scratch because I walked up the stairs (spiral hanging metal staircase) too slow when bringing up stock. He felt I wasn’t fast enough and wasn’t trying hard enough and said if I didn’t get better the following day then he’d let me go. The following day he said I’d done great, but I didn’t change a thing, he kept me on but I quit not long after as I didn’t want to work for him, a few months after that he left with all the till takings and wages and never came back.

Anyway my point is, he may not get sacked he may get told to shape up. But tell him to look for a new job anyway as you don’t want him working for someone who doesn’t like him

'Next' maybe

The abuse of young people is well known. Just tell him it's a life lesson that bosses don't have to be fair. I've had three youngsters find this out.

It takes a lot to get a gross misconduct allegation to stick

Not necessarily - While gross misconduct is usually a single, extremely serious breach of the company code, it can also represent an accumulation of much less serious indiscretions. This seems to be the case here, although we can't say for certain.

We have a lot of employment protection in the uk.

True, however OP's son has few protections in place due to their length of service

In theory, I could sack you for Gross Misconduct for looking at me funny. With over two years service you would of course go to a tribunal, which would almost certainly find it nowhere near the GM threshold, and rule in your favor for unfair dismissal.

With under two years' service, OP's son has no right to tribunal, unless his dismissal was based on a protected characteristic or an 'automatically unfair' reason, such as asserting a statutory right.

Here's where this could get interesting... Wrongful Dismissal (for example when your employer breaches your contract by not paying out your notice period) does not require 2 years service to claim at tribunal.

GM usually means that the employer doesn't have to pay notice, but a full and fair investigation must be carried out to establish this. If OP's son believes that the investigation failed to establish that his conduct amounted to Gross Misconduct, or that the investigation wasn't fair, he may have grounds for a tribunal.

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Yes this gets trundled out time and time again on MN that they can ‘ only put dates on a reference’ and ‘they can’t give a bad reference’. Of course they can if they have the proof and having gone through an investigation for gross misconduct and found guilty there would be proof and they can tell any future employer so. What would be the point of references otherwise?

I am also confused as to why they’re even bothering to go through a GM investigation when after six weeks they could have just let him go. There is clearly more to it than a few extra burgers being cooked and a bit of insubordination.

There is going to be his version of the story, the management's version of the story, and the truth.

Like many of us, I've had awful managers, so bullying is definitely a possible explanation.

But I've also worked with young people in their first adult job, and some teenagers and young adults truly treat any assigned job task like they used to treat their homework- that is, they don't fully complete it!

Then they're shocked to find out that managers have much more power to deal with undone assigned tasks than their teachers ever did, and that management will tell them to leave and never come back.

You've said you don't know what happened to the meat.

Most kitchens have strict rules about mistakes - the food has to be thrown, not given away to other staff to eat, customers to eat, or eaten by the staff member who made the error.

Yes, it seems wasteful, but it's to deter deliberate 'mistakes' made so people can eat the food, or give it to friends (coworkers or otherwise).

You don't know what happened to the meat - I suspect what happened to it is what the gross misconduct is.

It’s possible that your son simply didn’t portray himself as being capable of doing this job well. The probation period exists so employers can get rid of people quickly who aren’t up to scratch. I’m sure as a customer you want to be served quickly and served well. Restaurants need employees to be capable, on the ball, and compliant. It looks as though your son has failed to impress them and rather than blaming them perhaps your son can be encouraged to take this as a life lesson and do better next time.

McDonalds restaurants are run as franchises but I would assume they are overseen by the larger cooperation and I’d want to be reading as much company policy as I could to make sure this is handled well.

I’d just tell him to quit. Sounds like it won’t be a great place to work.

He's got nothing to lose by going to the meeting if he likes it there, gets a warning great he gets to stay, gets fired? He's only worked there 5 minutes leave it off his CV.

You never know, I worked at a McDs when I was a student and watched a colleague throw a lettuce at a manager, he didn't get fired. Fwiw I only worked there a couple of months, it was awful and I'd already worked in plenty of pubs and restaurants and in kitchens so was well used to hard work, long hours and a by MN standards unprofessional environment.

Go to the meeting for sure.

Sounds as though his version of the story may not be the whole story.

I think he should go to the meeting and out what is being alleged etc. A friend of mine used to work in McDonalds. There seem to be set procedures for everything,

If it was just a honest error he can explain the situation and maybe get more training in the grill. If it something more like not doing his job correctly, then hopefully it will give him a sharp shock and he learns from it.