Why 10,000 Chipotle Workers Are Suing the Company
Nearly 10,000 people who work at Chipotle are accusing the company of owing them some serious cash. CNNMoney reports that a class action lawsuit accuses the fast-food chain of wage theft, making them work extra hours without pay.
The case, Turner v. Chipotle, is named after Leah Turner, a former manager in Colorado who says she was forced to work without pay and to tell her employees they had to as well. The suit argues that the company told hourly workers to punch out and then continue working until their boss tells them they can leave. This would often happen at closing time when workers had to clean up after all the customers left.
"Chipotle has argued this is a few rogue managers who aren't following policy. Our view, especially given the number of people opting in, is that it's a systematic problem at Chipotle," lawyer Kent Williams, who is representing the workers, told CNN. The lawsuit includes 9,961 workers, which is around a fourth of Chipotle's workforce, according to the New York Daily News. The issue, the suit claims, is the company's strict budgets, which can really only be followed if workers continue off the clock.
Chipotle denies doing anything wrong, and says it has paid all its workers fairly. "A lawsuit is nothing more than allegations and is proof of nothing," Chipotle's communications director, Chris Arnold, told Fortune. "Since this suit was originally filed in 2014, we have maintained that it has no merit, and we will reserve our discussion of details for the legal proceedings."
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