The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave a former Taco Bell employee a small but significant victory in her battle to recoup wages that were allegedly stolen by a massive franchisee who owns over 150 locations of the popular, Mexican-themed fast food chain.
In the case stylized as Morgan v. Sundance, former hourly Taco Bell employee Robyn Morgan (and several hundred others) claimed that Sundance, Inc., the franchisee in question, forced workers to clock out before the end of their shifts while they still continued to work, that the company devised a policy where management would “shift” hours from one week to the next in order to ensure weekly recorded hours never exceeded 40 so that overtime was not paid, and that many employees were never paid for their shifted hours whatsoever.
Filed under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the 2018 class action lawsuit sought substantial damages for overtime and wage theft.
Wage theft committed by business owners is the leading form of theft in the United States–surpassing all other thefts, including robberies, burglaries, auto theft, and larcenies by at least a measure of 3-1, according to the FBI and the Economic Policy Institute.
For nearly eight months, the litigation process played out–finally fizzling out with an unsuccessful mediation effort. Then the company switched tactics and moved to compel forced arbitration–per the terms of contractual legalese signed by Taco Bell employees.
Morgan and the other Taco Bell employees opposed...
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