Operator of Dunkin’, Arby’s and Other Fast Food Franchises Hit with Lawsuit Over Alleged Pay Practices

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The operator of a number of Ohio Slim Chickens, Dunkin’, Arby’s and Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers franchises faces a proposed class and collective action over alleged violations of federal and state labor laws.

The 25-page case, filed by a former employee, alleges defendant Giesen Management Associates, LLC and its owner have implemented policies and practices that ultimately rob employees of proper pay for every hour worked. The case alleges that these policies and practices include shaving down workers’ reported hours, automatically deducting time for purported breaks, paying workers at their straight-time rate for overtime hours, and refusing to pay employees for training and off-the-clock work.

According to the suit, the defendants have “intentionally, knowingly, and willfully circumvented the requirements of the [federal Fair Labor Standards Act] and Ohio law.”

Giesen Management, the lawsuit claims, has robbed hourly employees of both regular and time-and-a-half overtime wages by frequently editing their time records to reflect that they worked fewer hours than they actually did. Per the case, this practice, which was allegedly implemented by upper management, resulted in workers being underpaid for compensable hours, including when they worked more than 40 hours per week.

The suit further alleges that the defendants have maintained a policy of automatically deducting time from workers’ hours for purported breaks regardless of whether the employees actually took breaks. According to the suit, this time, which was usually deducted in 15-minute amounts, should have been compensable under federal and state law, which require workers to be paid for breaks of 19 minutes or less. 

Moreover, the lawsuit claims Giesen employees were not provided with 30-minute meal periods wherein they were completely relieved of their duties. Per the case, workers often attended to customers, interacted with the company’s computer system or performed other work-related duties during breaks. The suit contends that employees are owed “significant amounts of wages and compensation” as a result of the defendant’s apparent automatic deduction of break time and failure to provide bona fide meal periods.

According to the case, the defendants also unlawfully paid workers at their straight-time rate for weekly hours worked in excess of 40, which should have been compensated at the statutory time-and-a-half rate. Employees were also not properly paid for time spent watching mandatory training videos, participating in work-related calls and text messages or otherwise performing required off-the-clock work, the lawsuit alleges.

Finally, the case claims the defendants failed to maintain accurate and complete records of employees’ work hours and wages paid in violation of federal and state law.

The lawsuit argues that the Giesen defendants were “unjustly enriched” as a result of their failure to properly pay employees and that allowing them to retain the benefits of workers’ “free, unpaid labor” is “demonstrably unjust.”

The case looks to represent current and former hourly Giesen Management Associates employees who, within the past three years and until the present, were not paid time-and-a-half overtime compensation for every hour worked over 40 in a workweek as a result of the defendant’s pay practices as stated above.

The lawsuit also looks to cover current and former hourly employees of the defendants who, within the past two years and until the present, were not paid proper overtime or were not paid their hourly rate for all hours worked as a result of the company’s pay practices as outlined above.

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