Dec 11, 2016
The franchising structure itself contributes to fast-food restaurant violations, the official overseeing the Labor Department’s wage-and-hour enforcement strategy argues, but the theory is subject to debate.
Over the course of the Obama administration, the WHD has conducted nearly 4,000 investigations at the 20 largest fast-food brands combined, leading to discovery of more than 68,000 FLSA violations and some $14 million in back wages recovered for about 57,000 employees, a review of WHD enforcement data found. And that’s not counting liquidated damages paid to employees, a figure not tracked on the division’s public enforcement database.
Three-quarters of investigations at the top 20 companies uncovered at least one FLSA violation.
