Fast food, retail workers to recieve $1.8 million in from settlements

A franchisee operating Taco Bell and Dunkin’ locations in the city will pay $1.5 million in restitution to more than 760 workers under a settlement reached with the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection for violations of the city’s Fair Workweek Law, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and DCWP commissioner Sam Levine announced last week.  

On a livestream filmed inside City Hall while lunching on Crunchwrap Supremes, Mamdani and Levine shared that the franchisee Salz Management LLC violated the rights of workers across 24 Dunkin’ and Taco Bell locations in Manhattan and Queens by failing to provide workers with schedules 14 days in advance and failing to obtain consent for schedule changes.  

“The workers didn't have predictable schedules,” Levine said during the livestream. “They were forced to close the store, then open it the next day without compensation. That's why we're getting money back in their pockets.” 

As part of a second Fair Workweek settlement reached by DCWP that was announced by the duo, more than 60 workers at two Manhattan locations of the fashion retailer Theory LLC will receive over $277,00. The franchisee and fashion retailer will also pay $176,000 in civil penalties directly to the city for legal violations. 

Individual payments for some workers covered by the settlements, Mamdani said, will be over $10,000. 

“Too often, there are workers who are either not informed of these protections, or it is made clear to them that were they to use these protections, they would face retaliation,” Mamdani said. “And that is illegal under the law here in New York City. And we don't just pass laws and sign them. We also enforce them.” 

Since Mamdani took office at the beginning of the year, DCWP has has secured more than $8.5M in restitution for workers in New York City, including $5 million for more than 49,000 wrongfully-deactivated delivery workers and $500,000 for late payments to 350 freelancers. 

More settlements could soon be in the works, as Mamdani and Levine also announced enforcement against another Dunkin’ franchisee, QSR Management LLC. Ronny Nader, the managing corporate officer of QSR Management LLC, violated the rights of over 1,000 workers at 21 Staten Island locations under both the Fair Workweek Law and the Protected Time Off Law, the DCWP alleged in an enforcement petition filed with the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. 

Nader was previously held accountable for legal violations in 2022, when DCWP reached a settlement with QSR Management LLC that secured $187,000 in restitution for 112 workers.  

Mamdani urged workers to come forward with possible violations of the Fair Workweek Law and Protected Time Off Law, noting that it only takes one worker making a complaint to help hundreds.  

“The end goal here is not lawsuits,” he said. “The end goal here is compliance. And if it takes lawsuits to get to compliance, we're willing to do that.”