The city Office of Labor Standards announced today that it has settled with Chipotle over alleged labor-law violations at eight area restaurants. We confirmed with the city that the West Seattle location (opened nine years ago at 4730 California SW) is one of them. First, from the city announcement, here are the basics:
The Office of Labor Standards (OLS) investigated Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. for alleged violations of the Secure Scheduling and Paid Sick and Safe Time (PSST) Ordinances throughout Chipotle’s eight operations in Seattle.
Chipotle settled the allegations and agreed to pay a total financial remedy of $2,895,716.73 to 1,853 employees and $7,308.63 to the City of Seattle. Chipotle also agreed to develop and implement a written Secure Scheduling Ordinance (SSO) policy.
This is the largest SSO settlement since the ordinance’s creation and the fourth largest overall in the history of the office. …
Under the Secure Scheduling Ordinance, OLS alleged the employer:
-Failed to consistently provide premium pay for schedule changes when required;
-Retaliated against an employee for declining to work or consent to a shift change made with less than 14 days’ notice;
-Retaliated against an employee for requesting not to be scheduled at certain times in conflict with a second job; and
-Failed to maintain records of original work schedules, as required by the Secure Scheduling Ordinance.Under the Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance, OLS also alleged the employer:
-Failed to provide PSST accrual at the correct rate;
-Lacked a compliant written PSST policy; and
-Retaliated against an employee for calling out sick.
We asked the OLS how the West Seattle Chipotle factored into this. The response: “There were 99 employees who worked at that location during the relevant violation period, of whom 79 were aggrieved parties under the Agreement. 12 received civil penalties for Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance violations and 78 for Secure Scheduling Ordinance violations.” The OLS also provided the settlement document; it lists the workers but does not match them to which restaurant they worked at. Reviewing that list, we note the largest sum awarded to any one employee appears to be $23,083, which includes back wages, interest, damages, and civil penalties.
| 9 COMMENTS