Allegheny County

McDonald’s worker fired after viral photo showing his hand in his pants

PITTSBURGH — A McDonald’s worker was fired after a disturbing photo posted online appears to show him with his hand down his pants while standing in the kitchen of the Brookline restaurant.

The photo was first posted by John Holieb on Facebook over the weekend.

You can customize your WPXI News App to receive alerts for Allegheny County news. CLICK HERE to find out how

Holieb told Channel 11 he was in the drive-thru with his daughter picking up food when he pulled up to the window and saw a worker with both of his hands down his pants. He told us he grabbed his phone to snap a photo and by that time, the worker had just one hand down his pants.

Channel 11′s Amy Hudak reached out to McDonald’s corporate officials Monday night and they gave her the following statement:

“Providing safe, high quality food is a top priority. We have been made of aware of this situation and are investigating internally.”

On Tuesday morning, a corporate spokesperson told us the worker had been fired.

Channel 11 reached out to the Allegheny County Health Department and they told us a formal complaint must be filed before they can take action, which also happened on Tuesday.

They told us the complaint came in “regarding the McDonald’s on West Liberty Ave., and we conducted an investigation early this afternoon. We spoke with the area supervisor for McDonald’s and found no other violations of personal hygiene.”

But if you ever witness something disturbing, to make a formal complaint -- you go to the health department’s website, click food safety complaint and fill out the form and submit it online.