McDonald’s Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit Progresses

A McDonald’s wage and hour class action lawsuit has been filed by eight employees of eight California franchisees alleging they were not adequately compensated for off-the-clock work.

According to the McDonald’s wage and hour class action lawsuit, a federal judge ruled the fast food giant may be liable for the employees’ claims because the state’s labor code applies to corporate franchisers.

The workers stated they were not compensated for missed breaks due to the pressure from McDonald’s Corp. and McDonald’s USA LLC.

A franchisee, the Haynes family, has also been named as defendant in the McDonald’s wage and hour class action lawsuit for failing to make the proper payments.

Overview of McDonald’s Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit

U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg approved of McDonald’s motion for summary judgment, stating that the company did not directly involve itself in the day to day operations of the franchisee.

However, Judge Seeborg acknowledged that the franchisee had been acting for the parent company.

Judge Seeborg did acknowledge that “there is considerable evidence, albeit subject to dispute, that McDonald’s caused plaintiffs reasonably to believe Haynes was acting as its agent. To begin, plaintiffs uniformly declare they believed both they and Haynes worked for McDonald’s.”

This was enough to hold McDonald’s and its franchisee subject to California labor laws.

Judge Seeborg also stated that because McDonald’s pressures its franchisees to adopt its company software, it forced Haynes to rely on an allegedly flawed system to credo employees’ time.

Furthermore the McDonald’s wage and hour class action lawsuit states that because of the parent company’s excessive control, the company is also liable for the missed payments.

The workers complain that they struggle to support themselves based on the wages they are paid, and that the franchisee’s failure to adequately pay them further damages their living situations.

According to the McDonald’s wage and hour class action lawsuit, the workers’ occupational duties were “strictly regimented” and were under strict circumstances that fell under McDonald’s surveillance of how the franchisee monitored and controlled labor costs.

This pressure allegedly caused the workers’ time to be edited in the company’s timekeeping system, which meant that any off-the-clock work, rest breaks, mealtimes and other payment withholdings were omitted from paychecks.

The McDonald’s wage and hour class action lawsuit states this was all done to meet “McDonald’s requirement that labor costs at its franchised restaurants may not exceed a designated and artificially low percentage of the restaurant’s gross sales.”

Even though the plaintiffs were disappointed that Judge Seeborg did not deny McDonald’s summary judgment, the plaintiffs’ lawyers stated it made no practical difference.

“If plaintiffs prevail on our ostensible agency theory at trial, we will have no need to appeal the ruling on our other liability theories,” the plaintiff attorneys stated.

This McDonald’s Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is Salazar et al. v. McDonald’s Corp. et al., Case No. 3:14-cv-02096, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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