The dark winter of Chipotle’s soul stretches on as the company is hit with a class action lawsuit alleging that many of the friendly youths assembling burrito bowls in the last few years were stiffed on their wages. Whatever they tell you, no one works just for the love of the bowl.
While Chipotle maintains that the accusations are meritless and any discrepancies can be attributed to a few rogue managers exploiting their staff, CNN Money reports that almost 10,000 workers say they were routinely cheated out of around five hours worth of pay a week. That can add up. The problem seems to center around the clocking-in system, which automatically clocks out all workers still logged in at 12:30 a.m.
However, employees reported that they routinely worked later in order to clean and prep for the morning shift. Managers were supposed to adjust the hours manually, but many workers allege they never did.
Felipe Ricardo worked at a franchise location in Connecticut this summer, where he says he was frequently scheduled until 11:30 at night, but had to work much later:
“I only worked nights because I have a full-time job during the day… Normally the schedule says you end at 11:30pm, but it’s almost impossible to get out at 11:30pm.”
He remembers working until 1 am one time. He told the manager to make sure his hours were adjusted to reflect the extra time. He recalls her saying, “Don’t worry about it.”
Ricardo says that when he received his paycheck, the hours he worked weren’t reflected in his pay. He complained, but it’s hard to chase the issue when you’re working two jobs. He says he isn’t sure if he ever received the money he was owed. Ricardo’s situation may clarify why this will be a difficult case to prosecute, but at the very least it’ll put pressure on management to be much more careful with their “automated” system.
