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.

Awww OP, I just want to say that you come across as a very lovely, kind lady / mum.
Looks like your son had a very eager manager who is a bit OTT? Tell your son that many people at McD can have a rough time due to managers that are not that good.
Good luck to him, he can experience it as a lesson and hopefully find somewhere better

Sounds utterly bizarre. They can fire him for any reason or none (except for a protected characteristic) now or any time in the next 22 months. I would be concerned about this, do NOT let him go to any misconduct meetings alone.

Your son is only 17. Go with him to the meeting, so you have the full story. That way you know if your son has omitted something from the story, or if this boss is just being a bully. If theyr

It would be very unusual to be allowed to take a parent to a disciplinary meeting. You can take a union rep or usually, a colleague but not someone from outside.

They can sack him for any reason that isn't discriminatory in the first two years. Therefore, large companies will still follow a process, rather than just letting someone go, so that they can prove later, if necessary, that they weren't dismissed because of discrimination against a protected characteristic.

It Is to the employers discretion to allow a parent to attend, but as he is a minor, it would be considered fair and reasonable practice for him to have a support person with him, to ensure that he fully comprehends the accusations and process. A parent can not speak on his behalf though, that would need to be a workplace or union rep.

If he has disclosed a protected characteristic this is more likely, yes. Most MacDonalds are franchises so not large, but I've never found many large companies do this anyway so I have a very different experience to you.

As a parent you feel rightly protective. The words ‘gross misconduct’ are very triggering like he was a thief or worse and impugning him and your family name.
However the matter needs approaching in a calm and business like way. The cards are stacked in favour of the employer. Get him some proper representation and total clarity on what actually happened in full. Help him argue his case and win or lose stay positive for him. He’s young and needs to learn from this experience not let it define him.
Your love and strength and level headedness will see him through.

Get him to hand his notice in, and then find something else. The manager seems to have taken a dislike to him, and is just going through the procedure he needs to to get rid of him. Doesn’t matter how much your son argues his case, he won’t win this. The decision is already made.

If any future employers ask why he left there, it looks far better to say something like ‘I handed my notice in because the hours didn’t suit me’ rather than ‘I was sacked for gross misconduct’.

This kind of shit really isn’t worth it for a part time McDonalds job.

They're patties (burgers), they cost the company pennies. I'm not saying that the company should be happy with wasting food, but they're not full joints.

He doesn't seem to think he was told once.

I can believe it - I've worked in food places were the training was none existant and they seem to expect mind reading - or to ask but when you do ask they got pissy as they were busy.

So I expect the come back will be if unsure should have asked. Hopefully he's right and it will get sorted but I'd gently suggest job hunting in mean time.

Thank you, wording on the letter is really strong and as you rightly said it was a trigger. After reading all comments it makes a bit more sense why he was issued this letter. As someone who used to work there mentioned in one of the coments: grills and ovens are set in certain way so that food prepared meets required standarts. To me extra few pattys seems not a bid deal, as I never worked in hospitality, neither with food and I dont know all safety requirements. However for organisation it might be a risk: uncooked food, wasted food, ect.
He didn't do this deliberately or intentionally. He needs more training and revisit all other rules and requirements. As why they put that he is not following instructions I really don't know. Maybe manager talked to him and as he did similar thing next day, he thought he is not listening. At the end of the day, managers get stressed too. As I overreacted and don't know any rules or requirements working with food I thought the worst: manager does not like him... and so on. It might not be the case at all. My boy is treated the same as anyone else would be in his situation ( welcome to adult world 🙂)
We had conversation about this and I asked if this job to much for him and maybe he needs to go. He insist it isn't, he wants to work there.
It is investigation meeting, and he decided to go and explain himself. He needs to be honest and tell that he needs more training, read food safety and other rules and tell that he didn't do this intentionaly or deliberately. Also, he needs to start asking people for help if needed. He doesn't ask anyone as he sees his as disturbing others as everyone is busy. We talked about possible outcomes: sack or warning. And if he ends up with written warning he will need to prove himself. I suggested to think carefully, because if he is given another changes he needs to learn and pay more attention to everything he is doing. It is very good lesson for him to learn no matter the outcome. 🙂

As why they put that he is not following instructions I really don't know. Maybe manager talked to him and as he did similar thing next day, he thought he is not listening

It's possible he was told and forgot -also possible he should have been told and wasn't and the manager who should have done that is now arse covering or belive he's had the training when he hasn't.

There usually someone in most workplaces even if it's not the persons supposed to be doing it - who'll answer questions if you get stuck - but yes more training or training should be happening for him - hopefully he gets the outcome he wants or can work with.

this is classic incompetent manager behaviour - expect everyone to know policies etc by osmosis (in my view came across it too often myself) have they communicated or shared policies and has he had any training around this other than direct instruction without explanation? Was this raised with him at the time as a "learning" experience? If no to above then he just needs to point that out - do not accept any warning etc and if one is given appeal or raise it with management above the person investigation. It is not good practice for the raising manager to be the investigating manager as there is bias so maybe also ask for a different manager to be involved to investigate - this then also flags to more senior managers as it has to be raised with them to get go ahead often.

I recall working somewhere - always finishing my work early and saying to manager - I have finished what I am doing - do you want me to go do filing etc. Him agreeing and saying yes yes yes - I go off do filing notice trends with some claims - raise with manager - they find a £1m fraud which was significant in 1992, then they pulled me up for not processing my "quota" - boss and bosses boss in an office and I just said - "what is my quota" and neither of the buggers could tell me! They then suggest I sit with Miss M as she is super speedy and I said of course, but I can tell you now she sends back 50% of her forms with one error noted and they then come back in with snotty notes from the firms involved and have to go back again cos she has done half a job - I told them to check the filing cabinets of ready to process forms and when they did there were over 500 forms she had sent back come back in that had to go back again. I don't think they ever forgave me for that but I did end up working in process improvement and quality lol. Oh yeah and not a word of thanks for any of it

This is why the government want to bring in more workers rights. Some businesses treat their employees like dirt.

One reason they may be going for gross misconduct is so they can sack him without pay. Although I would have thought it was cheaper to pay him for the work he's done and a week's notice period than all the management time involved in an investigation. However, employers don't always act rationally.

Indeed. I was totally in favour of day one rights. I think six months is a fair compromise though as it is what most employers do in practice anyway with their probation periods.

Your son needs to get into a union and only attend any meetings with his union rep present.

A union is very unlikely to support someone who is a new member and hasn’t/most probably will not pay any fees.

Would you seriously tell him to put this job on a CV as work experience?

Nope. If just be encouraging him to get a variety of experiences this year, then get onto a college course or apprenticeship to get some training.

Sadly this was rife when I worked there 20 years ago. Racist, sexist bullying, sexual harassment by managers ignored. Shift patterns used to bully people .

Update: he had his investigation and was allowed to comeback to work, but not on grill. Then he went to disciplinary and was sacked. I just do not understand how he was allowed to go back and then sacked. He is upset. Reason for the decission - because he is under probation. Good excuse for not supporting enough :)

Sorry to hear that but unfortunately it was on the cards. Onwards and upwards.

He was allowed to go back after investigation because they take the information and then consider it, and decide how to proceed. It shows it was not a foregone conclusion.

He won't have been allowed on the grill before the investigation was concluded. Totally normal practice.

It really doesn't sound like the workplace have done anything wrong at all here; you are biased as you're his mum.