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US WORKERS HAVE accused fast-food giant McDonald’s of systematically stealing wages through illicit practices like forcing them to work off the clock, failing to pay overtime and cleaning their own uniforms.
Seven class-action lawsuits were filed Wednesday and Thursday in California, Michigan and New York demanding that McDonald’s pay back the stolen wages and end the practices that violate state and federal laws, lawyers representing the workers said.
McDonald’s Corporation is named in all seven lawsuits, while franchisees were included in five of them.
The lawsuits argue that McDonald’s, which took in nearly $5.6 billion in profits last year, regularly fails to compensate its already low-paid workers for all the hours they work.
It allegedly forced employees to work off the clock, failed to pay them overtime, shaved hours off time cards, and deprived employees of timely meal and rest breaks, among other practices.
“We’ve uncovered several unlawful schemes, but they all share a common purpose – to drive labour costs down by stealing wages from McDonald’s workers,” Michael Rubin of Altshuler Berzon, who filed the California suits, said in a statement.
“These suits have been filed to stop this widespread employee pay theft,” Joseph Sellers, of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, co-counsel in the lawsuits filed in California and New York, said in a conference call.
Minimum wage
Fast-food workers, some of the worst-paid in the US economy, have been campaigning for higher wages in recent years. Last August thousands of workers went on strike at McDonald’s and other fast-food restaurants in 60 cities across the nation seeking a minimum wage of $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation by their employer.
Protesters including a man dressed as Ronald McDonald chant inside a McDonald’s restaurant last December. (Image: Ben Margot/AP/Press Association Images)
President Barack Obama currently is pushing to raise the $7.25 federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, but is facing fierce opposition from Republicans in Congress.
Sellers said the class-action suits in the three states cover more than 30,000 McDonald’s workers.
The workers were referred to the lawyers through a consortium of locally based organisations that are addressing working conditions in the fast-food industry, he said.
He added that he did not know the amount of money sought, but it would include back pay and perhaps penalties.
More suits coming?
Sellers voiced hope the class-action lawsuits will “change the workplace behavior of the fast-food industry.”
“There may be more suits coming,” he said.
McDonald’s spokeswoman Gidi Sa Shekhem said the company was currently reviewing the allegations in the lawsuits.
“McDonald’s and our independent franchisees are committed to undertaking a comprehensive investigation of the allegations and will take any necessary actions as they apply to our respective organisations,” she said in an email to AFP .
Sun Benjamin looks out from under a cap advocating a $15 minimum wage as she prepares to walk with other protesters on a day-long march in support of fast-food workers. (Image: Elaine Thompson/AP/Press Association Images)
Shares in Dow member McDonald’s shed 1.4 per cent at $97.37 in New York amid an overall market sell-off.
In California, workers filed three suits alleging 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 pending against McDonald’s in Los Angeles.
In Michigan, the two suits are filed against McDonald’s Corp., its US subsidiary and two Detroit-area franchisees.
Among the Michigan complaints is that the company regularly forces them to show up for work then forces them to wait without pay until enough customers appear. The company also forces them to buy their own uniforms, pushing their real wages below the legal minimum.
The case filed in federal court in New York alleges McDonald’s fails to reimburse employees for uniform cleaning in violation of New York state law and often violates both federal and state minimum wage laws.
“Because McDonald’s restaurants pay so little, forcing workers to clean their Golden Arches uniforms on their own dime drives many workers’ wages below the legal minimum,” said Jim Reif, of Gladstein, Reif and Meginniss, an attorney who filed the New York suit.
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Context is everything. He didn’t use the word to describe someone; he was repeating what another person experienced.
Clickbait headline.
@Hugh: you clicked first tho …..
It’s an uncomfortable word to hear spoken with the hard-R but I think in the context of his speech accounting a victim’s abuse he was entirely correct to read it and make the listener uncomfortable.
@Rochelle: it’s a non-story
Pathetic tabloid click baiting. Journal turning into The Sun?
Only black people can say that word then? What about when people outside of Cork say ‘lang*r”, do you know how that feels for us!..
@Lad: an African American called me n|gger once. I wasn’t brave enough to return the compliment
@Oracle Steve: I was once called it by a white Dublin teenager near Tallaght hospital. Not so much brave in that instance not to return the misappropriation. I’ll wait for the local TD – privileged Paul – to school him on the history of slavery from his d4 tower.
@Oracle Steve: Coming from an African American it would have been a positive reflection on you
@Lad: Sure, ’tis the same. Has the same meaning and all, haha. Dog-whistling racist clown.
@Brynþór Patrekursson: stop that. Telling the truth is wrong
@Lad: wow. Cork is now a race? I did not know that. Since when?
It’s a becoming a bit like the Jehovah scene in Life of Brian
https://youtu.be/Cnn2aGVcCEc
@Ger O’Reilly: Right…. who said that…. come on then…..the next person to ………
@Ger O’Reilly: you’re so right!!! Great clip!
It’s not a nice word to call someone but anyone who gets offended at someone just saying the word and not directing it at anyone is a first class moron. Is there not anything more important for people to be talking about in the Dail?
He hurts us more with his penal taxes he wants to impose on us
This race-baiting has got to stop, its getting way past a joke and has become annoying. I have never met one racist Irish person in my life, not a single one ever.
@Pat Coyne: You obviously have a very low bar for what you term racism. Racism is everywhere and rampant in Ireland.
@Paul Whitehead: what a blind eye I must have Paul. Working in the industry I work in, thousands of members of the public, hundreds of colleagues, over a 35 year period, “everywhere” and “rampant” is most certainly not the case. In fact Paul, I would argue quite the opposite, very much quite the opposite. I can only assume the circle you mix in is one I would quickly change.
@Pat Coyne: Where have you been hanging out?
@Pat Coyne: You haven’t read this thread obviously.
@Pat Coyne: Then you, sir, are a liar or a recluse.
@Pat Coyne:
Pat – your missing the point. The racists are the snowflakes and butterflies who talk it up and make an issue out of very little.
But they are not stupid. For various self-serving interests they want more immigrants who can be identified by colour. Polish are no good- they look the same as Irish.
With a good number of African and Asian you can set up a support group, get money and support yourself very nicely.
You come from a nice background Daddys in business – you want to displace Irish workers with biddable foreigners who work all hours. The fact that they spend little and send their savings home isn’t your problem.
There is a whole string of self-interested reasons for promoting immigration control as racist, which we now see with the DIrect Provision issue hitching on to it.
We have a 5th colum working within, call them out and see how they like it.
@Pat Coyne: really? Are you deaf and blind? racism exists in all levels of society in the majority of countries in the world.
Read any article about a dp centre opening in a town and you will find comments left right and centre usually along the lines of ” i’m not a racist but…….”
We’re even racist towards our own people, the level of anti Dublin hatred, dislike or whatever you want to call it is huge and vice versa.
Racism will always exist whether we like it or not.
Oh God save us from Ryan and his woke brethren !
@DMC: woke off
He quoted a piece that read n*****. How in the name of God was he supposd to address the issue without actually saying it? I mean for f f s /. To top it off he used the word in favour of anti racism.
Nothing to see here for Godssake
@colm mc sweeney: That makes no sense. Everyone would have known what word he meant if he just hinted at it. There was no advantage to him saying it.
FEAR is typically the primary reason that people don’t use the N word any more. It doesn’t seem to be out of respect or empathy towards a race of people.
It’s as if people of non-Irish descent feel that they don’t need to gain respect from their fellow citizens, that they are entitled to respect by default.
You were not wrong, grow a pair and stand up for yourself.
Because you are not standing up for yourself, I cannot fathom you being in government.
You are not a leader
His apology isn’t enough. He needs to volunteer to be a black families slave for twelve years.
Django Ryan
The greens, a special kind of cult.. creeps.
By the same token all radio stations that use rap songs that use the word should apologize and ban all such songs. First up radio 2.
G0bshite!
Genuine question. Why do black people use this word a lot.?
@Davy: Because they are black and can use it, but only among other black people. It is widely used in the USA and the series ‘Power’ used it about 50 times per episode.
@Davy: good question they use it all the time
@Davy: it’s a double standard, I don’t think anyone should say it.
@Tony Harris: Yes
@Paul Whitehead: So what youre saying is youre comfortable watching some tv show where the word is constantly used, but would be offended if someone you know repeated the word. Got it.
@Davy: Genuine answer: it’s why Irish people jokingly refer to ourselves as Paddies or Micks. Comprendre?
@Pauline Gallagher: I didn’t watch that series due to the language, can’t stand that word being used by anyone
@Niall Byrne: bull, I’ve never heard any of my family or friends use those terms to describe Irish people. They are offensive and derogatory and should not be used
Part of me thinks that he used the word just so that he could apologize.
@Damon16: he shouldn’t apologise he used the word in a debate about racism…
I find it annoying that those who use it most seem to be the ones offended ….
I’d fell safer using the “n” word than calling an Irish woman pale or very white
The world is losing (has lost?) its collective mind!
He didn’t use the word, he quoted it. And all these outpourings of righteous indignation and sanctimony won’t do a thing to combat racism.
I don’t like black jellybabies… am I a racist
We watched the box series of The Wire in our politically-correct household and it took weeks for us to stop using ‘motherf—-er’ and the N word.
Perhaps there is no magic in any word, only in its usage and quoting some ignorant racist is not the same as using it as an insult.
As a child, the word Jesus had special power and could not be used without bowing the head. Now it is in common usage as an exclamation of surprise.
The context of this has to be taken into account.
Plonker! If that’s his political judgment God help Ireland if he gets his grubby hands on power!!
@Niall Sheridan: He already did and it didn’t work out so well.
Bye bye Eamonn
God anything can make them cry for god sake
it’s time to call stop on everything being seen as racial. The stupidity of making “Gone With The Wind
Racial is wrong. We cannot wipe out history as this teaches us what not to do today
Apology accepted from the Elected Member of OUR Dáil, Now move on.
@James Keogh: turn ablind eye when it suits your agenda . . . Seems to be the trend lately alright
@Nowa Huta: He was quoting from an article on the Irish Times, he unfortunately used letters to fill in where there were asterisk’s,
definitely a mistake and nothing else.
S***le, or to expand SIMPLE
I listened to him say it and thought “nope, he should not of said that”.
Ryan’s only mistake was his apology.
Aimin gets his nickers in a knot now and then
I know the answer. But I’ll ask it anyway,Can anybody please explain the problem with the word?
I knew there was a reason why Eamon hated coal so much.
Lost what respect I had for him for apologising for repeating the remark he was only using to emphasise the point. Too many apologies in politics not enough leadership
Keep back peddling so you can impose your tax regime in government.
He knows that he shouldn’t have ever said it yet he did .an on dail record. Time to get rid of the greens
Are judges allowed to say it? Solicitors, barristers, witnesses, etc?
Rex Kramer , danger seeker
I wonder how many of the people who object to Ryan quoting the word, are in fact non-white. It’s the worst kind of virtue signalling to be outraged at this. Let us fight the real enemy, racism. Eamon Ryan is not racist.
He will go down well with the CARETAKER ADMINISTRATION he is joining
Is there an official list of the banned words?
Obviously Jehovah is banned. Any others?
How about we all lay off Eamon Ryan and concentrate on the real issue …..why was anyone called the n word in the first place. People are using this as a stick to beat Eamon Ryan with and distracting from the issue of racism and racist attitudes in Ireland.
Ryan is an embarrassment to any political party.
He would be a great embarrassment in Government if he was a Minister
Eamon, Don’t fancy your chances with this 1… the mob want victims, especially from the merc and perk brigade
It was in his mind my parents taught all of us not to say that word .We would be in serious trouble with them .How the hell did he say it man no excuse . .
Wow. Just wow. That word actually meant royalty in some african tribes where most of the strong ‘slaves’ with royal blood were stolen from and was used by slave ‘owners’ to demean them. Black Americans reclaimed it and when most say it, it’s not derogatory. But none black peoples have no right to use the word in ANY context.
Those of you saying kids hear it all the time, it’s your job as parents to make sure they don’t listen to explicit lyrics and to teach them not to use it otherwise you’re obviously failing as a parent. This country uses load of curse word but do your kids go around calling everyone a c***?
Y’all need to stop being ignorant and actually take accountability for how you raise your kids and what you say ffs.
A slip of the tongue.
No harm intended.
I am aware of a teacher in England who,lost his job for using the “N” word.
He was teaching Spanish.
The Spanish for Black couloir is “N”
How crazy the world is…… but we still kill babies ….. we call murder…..abortion.
People don’t die anymore…. they “pass away”
Censorship is an attack on the right to freedom of speech. Ppl should never incite racism or hatred nor should they direct it at another member of society.
have your say