Chipotle FLSA Unpaid Wages Lawsuit Moves Forward With Class Cert.

Recently a judge denied a popular burrito chain restaurant’s request to decertify a Class of employees alleging wage and hour violations in an FLSA unpaid wages lawsuit.

Defendant Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. is a popular chain restaurant founded in the United States with locations all over the world. It has been in business since 1993. They claim to use high quality, raw ingredients and classic cooking techniques.

Not long ago, a FLSA unpaid wages lawsuit was filed against the popular food chain because workers claimed that they were asked to perform off-the-clock duties and were not paid for them.

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson denied the request from Chipotle to decertify the plaintiff Class in this FLSA unpaid wages lawsuit, ruling that the employees’ duties were similar enough to each other to keep the class certification.

She stated that the workers were similarly situated in their allegations of being made to perform off-the-clock duties, even if those duties were different than each other. Additionally, conflicts of interest between plaintiffs should not be reason to decertify the Class, Judge Nelson stated.

Chipotle claimed the employees’ individual settings were “disparate,” and thus they should not be put together in a single Class. In fact, Chipotle claimed in this FLSA unpaid wages lawsuit, the reasons behind the plaintiffs’ allegations of FLSA violations were varied and included different duties such as additional cleaning assignments as punishment, “voluntary cleaning parties,” off-the-clock work to demonstrate loyalty, and managerial requests to clock out early yet continue to work.

Chipotle also said that there were conflicts of interest among the plaintiffs because managers and their subordinates were in the same proposed class.

Nelson said, “The court finds that the factual and employment settings factor supports the denial of defendant’s decertification motion. The class members here worked at a single location, performing the same duties: cleaning, counting money, prepping food [and] locking up … they were likewise subject to the same off-the-clock policies.”

The original FLSA unpaid lawsuit was granted a provisional Class in September 2014. In this FLSA lawsuit, several workers at the Crystal, Minn. Chipotle store alleged that the restaurant chain shorted them wages.

The same judge denied a request for a nationwide Class, yet granted a narrower Class to include those employees of that single store.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, employees should receive overtime pay for any time they work over forty hours in a week. This overtime pay should be at least equal to one and half times their regular pay rate.

For workers who are “non-exempt” from FLSA protections, they must be paid for all work related to their job. The plaintiffs in this FLSA unpaid wages lawsuit claim that they were required to do many job-related tasks, yet were not paid for them.

Because this FLSA unpaid wages lawsuit is four years old, these workers have been waiting for their pay for that long.

The FLSA Unpaid Wages Lawsuit is Harris et al. v. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., Case No. 0:13-­cv-­01719, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Join a Free Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were forced to work off the clock or without overtime pay within the past 3 years, you have rights – and you don’t have to take on the company alone.

Get a Free Case Evaluation Now