Almost 10,000 Workers Are Suing Chipotle For Making Them Work For Free

Between E. Coli outbreaks and a drop in sales, Chipotle can’t wait to start jotting down their 2017 New Year’s resolutions and try to forget that 2016 even happened.

Now, just to finish off the year as disappointingly as it started, Chipotle’s getting hit with a lawsuit from 9,961 current and former employees claiming that they were not properly paid for their hours worked, according to CNN Money.

The lawsuit cites that Chipotle asked employees to continue working after they’d clocked out, meaning they were working for free. The practice was alleged to be primarily during closing shifts, when staff were unable to finish their work after the midnight closing time.

“Wage theft” is what it’s called, and 1/6 of the company’s 59,300 employees have jumped onto the Turner vs. Chipotle lawsuit, as they say it’s been a very common practice used by various Chipotle locations.

Leah Turner, a former Chipotle manager is spearheading this lawsuit, saying that the chain’s budget goals required she not only work after clocking out, but was asked to make other employees do so, as well.

Chipotle’s denying the whole thing, saying that it was a few managers that didn’t follow protocol, but that’s a hell of a lot of employees fighting back, claiming that it has happened across the country, giving the Williams Law Firm representing the employees reason to believe that it’s a, “Systematic problem at Chipotle.”

If the allegations turn out to be true, Chipotle might as well just start over and change their name to ‘Cheap’otle to properly describe not only their worker treatment, but careless handling of food.