McDonald's sued for 'Stealing Wages'

[Exterous]

Workers in California, Michigan and New York this week filed six new lawsuits against McDonald's claiming they were systematically shorted on pay by the fast-food giant and its franchisees, lawyers involved in the cases said Thursday.

The allegations made in the lawsuits are fairly common in the fast-food world, but the wide breadth of the litigation will bring more attention to McDonald's pay practices at a time when labor groups and lawmakers are pressuring the company to raise wages. A lawyer who filed one of the cases said some of the plaintiffs were referred by the Service Employees International Union and its allies, which helped organize the fast-food strikes that have hit several U.S. cities.

Only a small percentage of McDonald's restaurants are directly operated by the company, while most of the stores are run by franchisees large and small. All of the lawsuits name McDonald's as a defendant, while five also name franchisees. Sellers said he found "evidence" that McDonald's is "jointly responsible for illegal pay practices" in restaurants run by franchisees, although he didn't elaborate.

Honestly I would be shocked if the McDonald's corporation was actually responsible for the illegal pay practices especially given all of the attention on them lately. Unless more is disclosed this seems like opportunistic dog pilling on McDonalds for the actions of a few franchise owners.

workers in New York claim they weren't reimbursed for the time and money spent cleaning uniforms as required.

Wait...what? I hope I am missing something because when I had an hourly job arriving to work in a clean company provided uniform was required but I certainly didn't get reimbursed for my time and cost of doing laundry. Maybe its a NY law?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/13/mcdonalds-wage-theft-lawsuits_n_4957593.html

 

[Newell Steamer]

McDonald's negative news usually comes from it's terrible food, employees and rowdy customers.

I don't think they were ever the center of anything on the corporation level.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's just some local asshole managers who are abusing their employees from a timesheet/salary perspective.

 

[TwiceOver]

That's absurd. If so Burger King owes me a shit ton of money for the 4 years I worked there and was "forced" to clean my uniform.

This is just getting ridiculous.

Also, just because a Franchisee pays poorly, doesn't mean all of them should get hit. It's not the corporation's fault that massive cities like New York drive down wages while the cost of living is sky high. If you don't like it, there's plenty of other places to live that are a LOT cheaper.

 

[highland145]

A lawyer who filed one of the cases said some of the plaintiffs were referred by the Service Employees International Union and its allies, which helped organize the fast-food strikes that have hit several U.S. cities.

Imagine that.

 

[DesiPower]

In the past few years, maybe going back a decade or two, the corporate greed has been rampant. I am talking especially about franchise owners, they put immense pressure on their store managers to cut labor cost and lets face it, the people working there are not the smartest of the bunch so cheating them is easy. And that's what's happened here. the owners' are not only thinking about their own profit but also want to make their business look good on book as making franchises profitable and selling them off is also a big business. The corporate culture is at its worse at this point of history... I hope humans recover from this before its too late.

 

[waggy]

sorry. but clean clothes are part of the workers expense. to think you should get paid to clean them is insane.

 

[highland145]

[QUOT]Rob from the poor and give to the rich. Reverse christianity at work.[/QUOTE]
😵

 

[Vic]

sorry. but clean clothes are part of the workers expense. to think you should get paid to clean them is insane.

If an employee is paid minimum wage and required to wear a uniform at work, then the employer is required to pay for their uniforms. This is not new.

 

[Newell Steamer]

sorry. but clean clothes are part of the workers expense. to think you should get paid to clean them is insane.

I've worked in hotels. They supply the uniforms and clean them.

McDonalds is a restaurant and part of the service industry - just like the hotels.

Most McDonalds would supply the uniform, right? If so, then I don't see anything wrong with management setting up cleaning services and options for their employees.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

I do believe Federal law only requires businesses to pay for cleaning uniforms that require special treatment (ie dry cleaning, pressing). If the uniform is made of wash and wear material the business isn't responsible for cleaning the uniform.

 

[Genx87]

In the past few years, maybe going back a decade or two, the corporate greed has been rampant. I am talking especially about franchise owners, they put immense pressure on their store managers to cut labor cost and lets face it, the people working there are not the smartest of the bunch so cheating them is easy. And that's what's happened here. the owners' are not only thinking about their own profit but also want to make their business look good on book as making franchises profitable and selling them off is also a big business. The corporate culture is at its worse at this point of history... I hope humans recover from this before its too late.

Franchises work on razor thin margins. That BK you see on the corner? Chances are the "owner" pulls in 70-100K in a good year. And for that he needs to work the place all day or risk having his labor steal away what profits he can generate.

Now whether or not this case is legitimate. I have no idea. But you would be surprised how little profit there is in owning a franchise. The people selling the franchises are where the profits reside.

 

[Genx87]

If an employee is paid minimum wage and required to wear a uniform at work, then the employer is required to pay for their uniforms. This is not new.

But clean them as well? I haven't heard of that in the fast food sector.
I was given a uniform in my brief time working in the fast food sector in my teen years. But I was responsible to keep it clean. Has this changed in the past 20 years?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

But clean them as well? I haven't heard of that in the fast food sector.
I was given a uniform in my brief time working in the fast food sector in my teen years. But I was responsible to keep it clean. Has this changed in the past 20 years?

**I think** the argument is that they are at minimum wage and expecting them to pay the expense to clean it, even though its not that much per week puts them under minimum wage. Reasonable argument but I don't want to speculate how this relates to minimum wage.
Without reading too much about this I would guess its mostly break violations where the place is busy and someone misses a lunch or a 15 minute break then the time for lunch/break is automatically deducted from their pay. That is usually the reason why companies get fined. Does everyone know that in many states an employee cannot opt out of break time, its the employers responsibility to make sure no work is performed during breaks. I never realized this until I started to manage people.

 

[Zaap]

...referred by the Service Employees International Union and its allies...

IE: Douchebag central. Pretty much explains everything.

 

[rudder]

If an employee is paid minimum wage and required to wear a uniform at work, then the employer is required to pay for their uniforms. This is not new.

hell man, I am required to wear dress pants and a dress shirt. They are not provided to me. I can't come to work with mustard stains down the front of my shirt. What the hell.