To file a McDonald’s incident report form, ask the on-duty manager at the restaurant where you were hurt or where your property was damaged to complete one before you leave, and get a signed copy in your hand. Because roughly 95 percent of McDonald’s restaurants are independently owned and operated by franchisees, the exact form, the entity that handles it, and the claims process can all vary from one location to the next.1McDonald’s. Franchising Overview The steps below work across most locations.
How to Get the Form Filled Out
Ask the shift manager for an incident report while you are still inside the restaurant. Most locations keep blank forms on-site for this purpose. Do not leave before one is started if you can avoid it. A report made the same day, at the scene, is much harder for a claims adjuster to dismiss than one that surfaces days later.
If the manager says they do not have a form, or if you already left, you still have options. McDonald’s runs an online feedback portal at mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/feedback.html where you can select “I have feedback for a specific McDonald’s location” and describe what happened.2McDonald’s. Contact Us: What’s on Your Mind That creates a digital record tied to the store, but it is not the same as the internal incident report the restaurant files with its insurer. Some larger franchise organizations also run their own portals where guests can submit safety or incident reports directly.
If a manager is uncooperative, call McDonald’s corporate guest relations and give them the store number so they can route your complaint to the correct franchise group. The store number is printed on your receipt and usually posted near the entrance. Each franchise entity is independently responsible for its own legal and regulatory compliance, so corporate needs that number to identify the actual owner.
What the Form Asks You to Provide
Layouts differ by franchise group, but most restaurant incident reports capture the same core information. Have the following ready:
- Your full legal name, mailing address, phone number, and email, so the insurance carrier can reach you.
- The date, time, and specific location of the incident — dining area, restroom, parking lot, drive-through lane, or kitchen area. Precise timestamps help match the event to security camera footage and employee shift logs.
- A factual description of what happened, focused on physical conditions: a wet floor with no warning sign, a broken chair, a falling ceiling tile, hot liquid spilled by an employee. Stick to what you saw and felt rather than guessing at causes.
- Names and phone numbers of any witnesses. Other customers leave quickly, so collect this before you walk out.
- A description of injuries or property damage, including pain, visible marks, or damaged belongings. If you slipped, some forms ask what footwear you were wearing.
Fill in every field, even the ones that seem minor. Blank spaces give the claims department less to work with and can be used later to argue that an injury was not serious enough to mention at the time.
Get a Signed Copy Before You Leave
Hand the completed form directly to the manager and ask for a copy. If the restaurant cannot photocopy it, take a clear photo of every page, front and back, before it leaves your hands. Have the manager sign and date the document acknowledging receipt. This prevents a later dispute about whether you reported the incident on the day it happened.
If you want a paper trail above the store level, send a written account of the incident by certified mail with return receipt requested to the franchise group’s corporate office. The return receipt proves someone there physically received your letter, which matters if the claim stalls or the restaurant later denies knowledge of it.
For submissions through the McDonald’s online feedback portal, screenshot the confirmation page and save any confirmation email. Digital submissions do not always generate a formal claim; they may create a customer service ticket that still has to be escalated internally.
Document the Scene Yourself
The incident report belongs to the restaurant. You need your own record. Before you leave:
- Photograph the exact spot where the incident occurred, including floor conditions, warning signs or the lack of them, lighting, and any visible spill or debris. Shoot from multiple angles.
- Photograph your injuries. Bruising, swelling, and cuts should be documented right away and again over the following days as they develop.
- Note where security cameras are pointed. This matters when requesting footage later.
- Keep your receipt. It ties you to that location on that date and includes the store number.
- Get medical attention the same day. A same-day record connects your injuries directly to the incident; a gap of days or weeks is something adjusters will question.
Your phone’s photo metadata quietly records the time and GPS coordinates of each shot, which corroborates your account without any extra effort.
Send a Preservation Letter for Surveillance Footage
This is where most claims quietly fall apart. Restaurant surveillance systems overwrite footage to free up storage. Depending on the location, recordings may be gone in as little as 30 to 72 hours, and even well-equipped locations rarely keep footage longer than 30 to 90 days. No federal law requires restaurants to retain surveillance video for any minimum period.
A preservation letter, sometimes called a spoliation letter, is a written demand telling the restaurant or franchise owner to stop any automatic deletion of footage related to your incident. The letter should identify the date, time, and location, describe the footage you want preserved, state that litigation is reasonably anticipated, and warn that destroying the evidence could result in court sanctions. Send it by certified mail and keep the return receipt.
Speed matters more than polish. A short, clear letter sent within 24 to 48 hours is far more valuable than a careful one sent two weeks later to a system that already recycled the tape. Once the restaurant receives the letter, it is legally obligated to maintain the footage. If it destroys the recording anyway, a court can impose an adverse inference, essentially assuming the missing footage would have supported your version of events.
What Happens After the Report Is Filed
The restaurant forwards your report to its insurance carrier, which typically hands the claim to a third-party claims administrator for investigation. The specific administrator can change depending on the franchise group and policy year.
An adjuster will contact you, usually within a few days to two weeks, for a preliminary interview. The adjuster’s job is to evaluate the restaurant’s exposure, not to help you maximize a recovery. Be factual. Understand that anything you say on that call can be used to minimize the claim. You are not required to give a recorded statement, and agreeing to one before you know the full extent of your injuries rarely helps you.
You should receive written acknowledgment of the claim along with a claim number. Use that number for every future conversation. If weeks pass without contact, follow up directly with the claims administrator. Reports do get lost in the handoff from the restaurant to the franchise group to the insurer.
At some point the adjuster will likely send you a medical authorization form. Read it before signing. A blanket release can give the insurance company access to years of records unrelated to the accident, which they will comb through for pre-existing conditions to use against your claim. You are not legally required to sign a blanket authorization. The insurer is entitled to records relevant to the injuries from this specific incident, not your entire health history. You can limit the authorization to specific providers and to a date range starting from the incident. Once you authorize access, you cannot take it back, so talk to an attorney if the scope is unclear.
Don’t Let the Filing Deadline Pass
Filing an incident report with McDonald’s does not pause or extend the legal deadline to sue. The statute of limitations for personal injury claims varies by state, ranging from one year in states like Kentucky, Louisiana, and Tennessee to as long as six years in Maine and North Dakota. Most states set it at two or three years from the date of the injury.
The internal claims process has no effect on this clock. Phone calls with adjusters, settlement negotiations, even a formal denial do not stop it. The only action that legally preserves your right to sue is filing a complaint in civil court before the deadline expires. Claims involving government-owned property, such as McDonald’s locations on military bases or in government buildings, may carry much shorter notice requirements, sometimes as little as 90 days.
Put your state’s deadline on a calendar the day of the incident. Missing it by one day permanently bars the claim, regardless of how strong your evidence is or how cooperative the adjuster seemed.