The SDA, the union representing fast food workers in Australia, has filed a multimillion-dollar class action lawsuit against McDonald’s, claiming that store managers performed unpaid work.
The union wants to recover around $100 million from McDonald’s for the 25,000 managers and supervisors who worked in 1000 McDonald’s restaurants.
The union also asked the court for penalties against McDonald’s Australia, its franchisees, and the workers who were not paid back wages.
The union claims that staff were forced to work 30 minutes unpaid before their scheduled shift under what’s known as “pre-shift checks” and 30 minutes post-shift to complete tasks for handover.
This action covers all shift supervisors and managers at McDonald’s stores who have worked for the past six years.
McDonald’s Australia said to 9news.com.au, “It takes its obligations under the applicable employment laws very serious”.
It said, “We value the contribution our employees make every day to our restaurants.”
We are committed to making sure they receive the correct entitlements at work and pay as per the Fast Food Industry Award or the previous enterprise agreement.
McDonald’s will reply to your claim as soon as possible.”
National Secretary Gerard Dwyer described this as “wage theft on a massive scale” and “exploitation.”
He said that he estimated managers had lost at least $100,000,000 in wages by working without pay.
McDonald’s, as one of the largest employers in the United States, should not require managers to work an hour or more per shift without being paid.
We estimate that a manager who worked five shifts per week would have had to do up to six weeks of work for free.
McDonald’s, its franchisees, and their employees have violated the law, and they are violating it no matter how they slice a burger.
McDonald’s should pay back the millions of dollars in wages that these workers are owed.
Mikayla Martin Coats, a former McDonald’s shift manager and department manager, said that she was instructed to arrive 30 minutes earlier at work in the three years she worked for the fast food giant.
She said, “It wasn’t worth the risk to arrive on time if I didn’t make it 30 minutes early. I’d be called into a meeting by my manager and I’d receive a warning.”
There was a list of tasks I had to complete before each shift to make sure everything was in order and that the store met standards.
The pre and post-shift work I did was never paid, and it wasn’t on my roster.