A Dunkin’ Donuts location in New York City.
amNY Media Archives
Twenty-one Staten Island Dunkin’ Donuts found themselves in hot water with the city Monday as the agency tasked with enforcing worker rights laws accused them of violating a slew of protections for over 1,000 employees.
Dunkin’ didn’t provide regular, written, advance schedules to employees, didn’t pay employees when they used their sick time and never properly informed them of the amount of sick time they were entitled to, according to the complaint filed by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection against Dunkin’ and Ronny Nadler of QSR Management LLC, the franchisee that owns the 21 stores accused of violating the city’s Fair Workweek Law and Protected Time Off Law.
“If DCWP sees you break the law, we will not hesitate to bring you to court – especially when it comes to repeat scofflaws,” DCWP Commissioner Sam Levine said in a statement. “Compliance is not optional.”
Employees at those 21 locations also weren’t paid extra for short notice schedule changes or working “clopenings,” or back-to-back shifts where an employee closes the store, then works the shift to open it the next morning, nor did managers obtain written consent from them to work additional hours, requirements of the Fair Workweek Law, the complaint alleges.
The department seeks millions in damages for the violations, up to half of which may be paid to workers directly.
The department also reached a $1.5 million settlement against a different Dunkin’ and Taco Bell franchisee and a roughly quarter-million-dollar settlement against clothing store Theory for similar Fair Workweek Law violations, stemming from suits filed by former DCWP commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga under ex-Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, first reported by The CITY.
That money will go to the roughly 760 Dunkin’ and Taco Bell employees across 24 locations in Manhattan and Queens and 60 Theory employees impacted by the companies’ failure to provide them with stable, consistent schedules or pay premiums for “clopening” shifts, according to DCWP.
Dunkin’ and Theory did not respond to requests for comment from amNewYork Law.
Resources needed to get workers relief
As amNewYork Law previously reported, DCWP says it needs more money to hire additional attorneys to more swiftly investigate worker complaints so it can better enforce these worker protection laws — along with the slew of new ones it’s about to be tasked with enforcing, like recently passed protections for Uber, Lyft and Grubhub drivers that prevent companies from deactivating worker accounts without notice, minimum wage requirements for security guards and street vendor licensing.
Levine and council members expressed concern at a Thursday budget hearing the department wouldn’t be able to respond properly or efficiently to complaints about companies breaking these laws if it doesn’t receive about 300 additional staffers. Violations at the Staten Island Dunkin’ locations took place between 2020 and 2021.
Acting efficiently on retail, shift and gig worker complaints is particularly important, officials said, as those jobs have notoriously high turnover rates and employees move around frequently.
“We need lawyers who can go into court and can take on big companies,” Levine told council members at the hearing. “We’re scratching the surface when it comes to how many New Yorkers are being defrauded every day. We’re trying to get money back to people as quickly as we can, but that requires resources.”