Second-Largest U.S. Burger King Franchisee Hit with Lawsuit Over Alleged Time Shaving

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The second-largest Burger King franchisee in the country finds itself facing a proposed collective and class action over what a former employee claims is its practice of altering and shaving time off hourly workers’ time records. 

The 18-page lawsuit against Tri City Foods, Inc. and Tri City Foods of Illinois LLC claims that as a result of the companies’ illegal time shaving, the plaintiff and other hourly Burger King workers have been deprived of proper minimum and time-and-a-half overtime wages. The case describes the defendants’ alleged Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Illinois labor law violations as “widespread,” as well as “willful, arbitrary, unreasonable and/or in bad faith.” 

According to the complaint, Tri City Foods operates restaurants in eight Midwestern states. The plaintiff, who the suit says worked at two Illinois Burger King locations between August 2016 and February 2020, claims she regularly worked upward of 40 hours per week, recording her time through a point-of-sale time clock system that utilized workers’ biometric fingerprints. The woman alleges that Tri City Foods’ management “altered” workers’ in and out times to reflect fewer hours worked.

With regard to the defendants’ fingerprint scanning for timekeeping purposes, the lawsuit, citing the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), says Tri City Foods collected, stored and used the plaintiff’s fingerprints without fulfilling state legal requirements. According to the case, Tri City Foods did not inform the plaintiff in writing of the specific purpose and length of time for which her fingerprints would be collected, stored and used, or provide a publicly available retention schedule and guidelines outlining the permanent destruction of the woman’s fingerprint data.