Here's McDonald's Official Dress Code

Turns out, there are a lot of can’s and can’ts at McDonald’s. You can drive your car through its drive-thru, but you can’t bring your horse-drawn carriage (well, you actually can now, thanks to a policy change). You can try its new Big Arch burger, but you probably can’t put your taste test on camera, unless, like its CEO, you end up as a viral meme that will haunt you for months to come. And, if you’re an employee, you can wear a little more than customers think you might be able to – but you should probably leave your flip-flops at home.

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Yep, that’s right: We’re taking a look at the McDonald’s employee dress code. Because why not?

What You Can’t Wear as an Employee

The dress code for employees at McDonald’s is a little looser than you probably think. While we all think of its workers as wearing the same button-down shirt and tie, it actually shook up its clothing guidelines back in 2024, introducing its “Dress for your Day” rules that gave employees a bit more flexibility as to what they put on at the start of their shift.

However, like any workplace, it still has some clear no-no’s about what you should leave at home. According to McDonald’s rules, “heavily worn shoes, flip flops, or sandals” are off-limits, as is “clothing with potentially offensive graphics or words” (to be honest, that makes sense). McDonald’s also specifies that you shouldn’t wear “shorts, overalls, t-shirts, sweats/sweatshirts, workout clothes or jogging suits,” or any hats or caps, unless they’re strictly medically necessary.

Anything too revealing or sheer is also out of bounds, and halter tops should be left at home. As for leggings, unless you have an “appropriate length dress,” they’re not an option.

What You Can Wear as an Employee

Now we’ve got all that out of the way, let’s look at what you can choose to wear if you’re slinging burgers at Mickey D’s. The restaurant states that you have a certain amount of flexibility in your clothing choices and that you don’t really have to stick to a uniform. “Have a low-key day? Maybe it’s a jeans day for you? You might consider wearing a suit that day,” says its rules (we’re not sure who’s going to be wearing a suit when on shift at McDonald’s, but hey, we’ve heard of stranger things happening.

The Dress for your Day guidelines go on to state that jeans are totally fine, as long as they’re not ripped, and that you can also stick to your “daily business-casual wardrobe.” In short, you can wear most things that you’d put on to put in a shift in any office around the country, although the rules do end with the line, “how you present yourself reflects on your personal brand as much as on brand McDonald’s.” Just in case you were in any doubt about who you worked for.