McDonald’s Corporation has reported a 35 percent increase in profits for the first quarter of 2016, an unexpectedly large gain driven in part by its recent decision to sell Egg McMuffins all day long. It was the third straight quarter of positive results, indicating that the company has begun to compete more effectively against hipper, faster-growing rivals.

All of which is good news for the executives and shareholders of McDonald’s. But when, if ever, will it be good news for McDonald’s employees and for taxpayers?

McDonald’s, a leader in the restaurant and food service sector, is a target in the Fight for $15 movement to raise pay, and rightly so. Nearly 23 percent of workers in the sector are paid at or near the minimum wage, and raises have been feeble. A recent pay increase at McDonald’s to at least $1 over the local minimum wage will not help most employees, because it applies only to those who work at some 1,500 corporate-owned restaurants, rather than the vast majority who work at 12,500 franchises.

The stated rationale for the disparate pay scales is the company’s assertion that franchisees, not the corporate parent, are solely responsible for pay at the franchises. Since last year, the National Labor Relations Board has been examining the legality of that assertion. It’s been slow going. At a recent hearing, McDonald’s lawyers disputed at length the admissibility of plain-English emails that the general counsel of the N.L.R.B. wanted to use as evidence to show the involvement of corporate headquarters in employee issues at the franchises. The irritated judge asked whether they would prefer “another 50 subpoenas” before moving on.