McDonald's intern says he hasn't been paid since December 2025 — instead of filing a complaint, he exposed his boss on the company's own account

A screenshot purporting to show a post from McDonald’s India’s verified X account went viral on September 6, 2026, after someone claiming to be an intern alleged that they had not been paid since December 2025. The post accused a manager named Amit Joshi of withholding the intern’s salary and claimed the person had taken on two additional jobs to survive. But McDonald’s India has denied that the post ever appeared on its official account, calling the image fabricated. Even so, screenshots continued circulating online and sparked a wider discussion about unpaid work and internships. One screenshot was posted on Reddit by u/NoMedicine3572 and has racked up over 54,000 upvotes in 2 days.

Appeal or scam?

"I am an intern at McDonald's India. My boss, Amit Joshi, has not paid me for months, forcing me to take on two extra jobs. I manage several McDonald's Asian accounts, but Amit Joshi has not paid me since December 2025," read the screenshot of the deleted X post.  Furthermore, according to the screenshots of the full thread shared by u/Suvvri, the person even claimed that they had to try to trade in memecoins in addition to their two jobs in customer support and delivery. “I literally starve every day because I lose all my money on them,” they wrote. The person added that McDonald’s owed them approximately $650, and since the manager was refusing to pay the salary, they were planning to get community support.

Mystery remains unsolved

The identity of the person has not been confirmed, nor have the allegations against the person identified as Amit Joshi. There is also no confirmation of the allegations against the fast-food giant. Additionally, McDonald’s India has denied the person’s claim and has declared no association with the social media post. “It falsely uses our brand name and was never posted from our official social media handle. There are clear discrepancies in the image that indicate this content is entirely fabricated. We urge you not to rely on or spread this unverified information," the fast food chain wrote, per WION News. That means claims that an intern 'hijacked' McDonald’s India’s X account remain unverified.

India records high levels of unpaid work

While McDonald’s has rejected the viral claim, the discussion comes against a broader backdrop of unpaid work among employees in India. According to ADP Research’s "People at Work 2026" report, based on more than 39,000 working adults across 36 markets, 24% of workers in India reported putting in 16 or more unpaid hours each week — the highest share recorded among the markets surveyed. The report also found that unpaid work is widespread globally, with 38% of workers saying they put in at least six unpaid hours per week.

'Imagine working for 8 hours without pay'

Reddit readers cooked up diverse perspectives on the situation, some of them siding with McDonald’s and others defending the intern. u/soukaixii commented, “Imagine believing someone will work for free for 8 months.” u/anupagarwal199 said, “This is a scam. He said he hasn't been paid since December, then he said since May. Then he talked about meme coin, and also it appears that he has no idea of how much salary he gets because it would be a lot more if it was due since December last year.”

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