McDonald’s CEO: Law Enforcement May Be Called on Customers Who Won’t Wear Masks

Two people make their way into a McDonalds restaurant that will only be offering takeaways due to the CCP virus in Plymouth, UK, on March 19, 2020. (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

The CEO of McDonald’s revealed that law enforcement officers may be called on customers who refuse to wear masks, coming just days after the company announced it would mandate face coverings nationwide in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19.

McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told CBS News that “if someone is unwilling to wear a mask and comply with our rules, that might be where we might bring in law enforcement.”

He added in the interview last week: “We’re spending a lot of time right now in our restaurants making sure we can keep our crews safe, making sure we can keep our customers safe. We’ve for quite some time required our crew to wear masks, but we thought that in light of what we’re seeing, it’s prudent now that we also ask our customers to wear masks in the restaurant as well.”

Kempczinski added that employees have already undergone training on how to deal with individuals who don’t have a mask—or won’t wear a mask.

The training, he said, includes “de-escalation” and “[explaining] to customers why we have the requirement.”

“Ultimately, we’re not going to be asking our crew people to put themselves in harm’s way,” he said, possibly noting incidents where retail workers at various stores being attacked or threatened over mask requirements.

But he said that most customers are “more than willing” to wear masks.

McDonald’s, Walmart, Walgreens, Kohl’s, Costco, and CVS are among the national retailers that have made wearing a mask mandatory.

In one incident last month, a Florida woman was caught on camera apparently screaming at Walmart employees after she was asked to leave due to her not wearing a mask.