Chipotle Class Action Lawsuit: 9,000-Plus Claim Chain Cheats Workers Out of Wages

HERMOSA BEACH, CA — Chipotle is making headlines again, but this time it's not for foodborne illnesses or an unsanitary work environment. The chain is being sued in a class-action lawsuit by current and former employees for wage theft.

Current and former Chipotle employees alleged that the company made them work extra hours without paying them. Former Chipotle employee Felipe Ricardo told CNN Money although the schedule said his shift ended at 11:30 p.m., it was "almost impossible" to get out on time and worked until 1 a.m. He, along with more than 9,000 other workers, said they never got paid extra hours they worked off the clock.

Chipotle has more than 2,000 locations nationwide, including one in Hermosa Beach, 1439 Pacific Coast Highway. It's unclear if any employees at the Hermosa Beach location are included in the class-action lawsuit.

New York Post reported in March that Chipotle has been hit with 115 federal employee lawsuits over the last five years, three times the rate of two of Panera Bread and Starbucks. This is the first large class action lawsuit against the company for wage theft, according to lawyer Kent Williams of Williams Law Firm, who is representing the employees in Turner v. Chipotle.

Chipotle closed dozens of locations last October after a multi-state E. coli outbreak. The company said it conducted food and environmental testing in affected restaurants and tested food in its distribution center to correct the problem after dozens became ill after eating the restaurant's Mexican food.

By Wendy Ann Mitchell (Patch Staff). Image by Mike Mozart via Flickr Creative Commons