Class-Action Lawsuits Filed By McDonald’s Employees For Wage Theft
McDonald’s employees have filed seven class-action suits in New York, Michigan, and California alleging wage theft and other Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations.
The complaints allege that the fast-food giant is “systematically stealing employees’ wages”, forcing employees to work off-the-clock, not paying proper overtime and deducting hours from their time cards. These would be violations of the FLSA, which regulates minimum wage, overtime pay, record keeping and other labor standards (1).
The lawsuits, which were filed on March 12 and 13, were announced yesterday during a conference call with the organizers the Service Employees International Union, which is seeking higher wages for fast food workers.
Examples of McDonald’s wage violations from the lawsuits in three states are included in the press release:
California
In three California suits, workers claim that McDonald’s and its franchise owners failed to pay them for all time worked, failed to pay proper overtime, altered pay records and deprived them of timely meal periods and rest breaks.
A fourth case makes similar claims on behalf of a statewide class of workers in McDonald’s corporate-owned restaurants, who are adding their claims to a lawsuit for unpaid wages, penalties, and other relief that is already pending against McDonald’s in Los Angeles Superior Court. See copies of the California lawsuits
Michigan
In two Michigan suits, filed against McDonald’s Corp., its U.S. subsidiary and two Detroit-area franchisees, workers assert McDonald’s regularly forces workers to show up for work at a scheduled time but then has them wait without pay until the store gets busy enough, and that it routinely violates minimum wage laws.
New York
The case filed in New York federal court seeks to redress McDonald’s blatant failure to compensate and reimburse workers at its New York stores for the time and cost of cleaning uniforms—which McDonald’s requires them to wear and to keep clean.
The plaintiffs contend that McDonald’s failure to reimburse employees for uniform cleaning violates the New York state requirement to pay workers weekly for uniform maintenance and often also violates both federal and state minimum wage laws.
The lawsuits were filed against McDonald’s franchises and company-owned restaurants.
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