Is a McDonald's in Rome, Georgia, offering a starting wage of $31 an hour? No, that's not true: The claim is posted on a satirical site and is not meant to be real. A manager at a McDonald's in Rome told Lead Stories it's a hoax. Pay at that restaurant starts at $11 an hour and goes up with experience, she said.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published by "City of Rome, GA & Floyd County" on August 6, 2021. The post includes a photo of a McDonald's sign advertising wages starting at $31 an hour. It reads:
West Rome McDonald's is in disparate need of staff. Starting pay $31 per hour.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri Aug 13 14:27:42 2021 UTC)
Despite its official-sounding name, "City of Rome, GA & Floyd County" is not a government page. It's a satire site. A previous post offered tickets to Donald Trump's supposed "second inauguration." The "About" section on its page states:
Not affiliated with any Government agency. This page is completely satirical. If you believe this page to be real your a moran and a looser like Hilary Clinton was in 2015.
Just to be sure, Lead Stories reached out to McDonald's. A spokesperson with the company said in an email, dated August 13, 2021, that the claim about pay starting at $31 an hour is false.
In May 2021, McDonald's USA announced that it would be raising wages at company-owned restaurants across the country. It said then:
These increases, which have already begun, will be rolled out over the next several months and include shifting the entry level range for crew to at least $11 - $17 an hour, and the starting range for shift managers to at least $15 - $20 an hour based on restaurant location.
A manager at the McDonald's located on Shorter Avenue in Rome, Georgia, similarly said the claim isn't true, describing it as a hoax. Pay at that restaurant starts at $11 an hour and goes up with experience, she said.
