Source: https://www.cohenmilstein.com/update/mcdonalds-workers-file-multiple-class-action-lawsuits
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 10:40:20+00:00

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(NEW YORK CITY) Attorneys representing McDonald’s workers in California, Michigan and New York this week filed class action lawsuits in federal and state courts claiming the fast food giant is systematically stealing employees’ wages by forcing them to work off the clock, shaving hours off their time cards, and not paying them overtime, among other practices.
The suits, which were filed Wednesday and today, demand McDonald’s pay back these wages and stop its illegal theft of workers’ pay.
"We work hard, and our wages are already at rock bottom,” said Sharnell Grandberry, a McDonald’s worker in Detroit who earns about $250 each week and is a plaintiff in one of the Michigan suits. “It is time for McDonalds to stop skirting the law to pad profits. We need to get paid for the hours we work."
According to national employment rights specialist Joseph M. Sellers, of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC: “Despite reaping tremendous revenues and profits thanks to the labors of crew members who earn at or just above minimum wage, McDonald’s is unlawfully failing to pay its workers for all the hours they work and for necessary expenses they incur relating to the uniform McDonald’s requires them to wear. Not only do its practices cause a substantial financial burden for McDonald’s workers, they violate state and federal minimum wage laws as well as other state labor laws.” Sellers and his firm are co-counsel in the lawsuits filed in California and New York.
McDonald’s workers who would like more information about the cases in California and New York or who would like to speak to an attorney about wage theft at McDonald’s should contact us toll-free by calling 1-800-262-8077.
McDonald’s workers who would like more information about the Michigan cases should contact the law firms representing the workers in those cases: James & Hoffman and McKnight, McClow, Canzano, Smith & Radtke, P.C..
In three California suits, workers claim that McDonald’s and its franchise owners failed to pay them for all time worked, failed to pay proper overtime, altered pay records and deprived them of timely meal periods and rest breaks. A fourth case makes similar claims on behalf of a statewide class of workers in McDonald’s corporate-owned restaurants, who are adding their claims to a lawsuit for unpaid wages, penalties, and other relief that is already pending against McDonald’s in Los Angeles Superior Court.
In addition to Altshuler Berzon LLP, California McDonald’s workers are represented by Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, and Matern Law Group.
In two Michigan suits, filed against McDonald’s Corp., its U.S. subsidiary and two Detroit-area franchisees, workers assert McDonald’s regularly forces workers to show up for work at a scheduled time but then has them wait without pay until the store gets busy enough, and that it routinely violates minimum wage laws.
The suits contend that, using McDonald’s franchisor standards and corporation-provided software, McDonald’s franchisees closely monitor the ratio of labor costs to revenues. When it exceeds a corporate-set target, managers tell workers arriving for their shifts to wait for up to an hour to clock in, and sometimes direct workers who have already clocked in for scheduled shifts to clock out for extended breaks until the target ratio is again achieved. Workers are not paid for these wait times, and McDonald’s Corporation knowingly tolerates this practice, in violation of federal labor law.
The suits also allege that McDonald’s forces its low-paid workers to buy their own uniforms. Because McDonald’s restaurants pay at or near the minimum wage, this drives some workers’ real wages below the legal minimum, in violation of federal labor law.
“The Detroit McDonald’s workers are coming into federal court for themselves and their co-workers because McDonald’s schedules them for work, but then makes them wait off the clock until enough customers arrive," said David Dean of James & Hoffman, an attorney who filed the suits in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. "Federal law demands they be paid for such waiting time, and McDonald’s Corporation needs to stop tolerating this illegal practice."
In addition to James & Hoffman, Michigan McDonald’s workers are represented by McKnight, McClow, Canzano, Smith & Radtke, P.C.
The case filed in New York federal court seeks to redress McDonald’s blatant failure to compensate and reimburse workers at its New York stores for the time and cost of cleaning uniforms—which McDonald’s requires them to wear and to keep clean.
The plaintiffs contend that McDonald’s failure to reimburse employees for uniform cleaning violates the New York state requirement to pay workers weekly for uniform maintenance and often also violates both federal and state minimum wage laws.
In addition to Gladstein, Reif and Meginniss LLP, New York McDonald’s workers are represented by Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.
Taken together, these lawsuits in California, Michigan, and New York contend that McDonald’s, which raked in nearly $5.6 billion in profits last year, regularly fails to pay workers for all the hours they work.
The allegations are not isolated ones. A survey conducted in New York last year by Anzalone Liszt Grove Research showed that 84 percent of fast-food workers are victims of wage theft. In response to the survey, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman launched an investigation into pay practices in the state’s fast-food industry.
The California cases are Sanchez v. McDonald’s Restaurants of California, Inc., Salazar v. McDonald’s Corporation, Hughes v. McDonald’s Corporation, and Ochoa v. McDonald’s Corporation. The Michigan cases are Pullen v. McDonald’s Corporation and Wilson v. McDonald's Corporation. The New York case is Beard v. McDonald’s Corporation.
For more information about the cases and copies of the complaints, click here.

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