This Popular Burger Chain Was Once Sued For $1.2 Million Over Employee Rights

The fast food industry does not have the best reputation when it comes to working conditions, with those who labor within it frequently faced with low pay, long hours, extreme stress, hazardous workplaces, and poor treatment from management. Though it would be easy to shrug resignedly that fast food workers should expect nothing less in such a notoriously tough profession, it is important to remember that they have rights — and when those rights are violated, there must be redress. This was the lesson that fan-favorite chain Five Guys learned to its cost, when a class action lawsuit forced the company to pay a settlement of $1.2 million dollars to over 2,000 employees in California whose rights it had violated.

Under state law, California's Department of Industrial Relations reports that workers have the right to an uninterrupted, unpaid, 30-minute break for meals if they are working more than five hours in a single day, a further such break if they are working more than 12 hours in a day, and a paid 10-minute rest for every four hours they work. California law also strictly demands that workers are paid minimum wage, and that non-exempt workers receive overtime pay of one-half times their regular rate when working more than 40 hours per week. Yet according to a lawsuit first filed in June 2017 in the District Court for the Eastern District of California, the plaintiff — Jeremy R. Lusk, then a Five Guys "manager-in-training" — and 2,206 other Five Guys employees were not given rest or meal breaks, and were also required to work off the clock without receiving either minimum wage or overtime pay. To put this in context, if you've never worked a busy 12-hour shift in a service industry job without a meal or a break, try it and see how you fare.

While a settlement for the lawsuit was reached in October of 2018, this was then rejected by judges who viewed the proposed amount as too little to adequately serve as restitution for the workers whose rights had been violated, particularly as almost 40% of the suggested figure would go to the law firm representing them — this view was not without merit. But finally, after five attempts, the lawsuit and the figure was settled upon in 2023 when Five Guys and the plaintiffs agreed to a payout of $1.2 million. Once divided up, however, each claimant would only receive up to $900.

It would be nice to think that victories in fast food chain lawsuits like this might signal a long-overdue shift towards a service industry that prioritizes the rights and well-being of its employees. Unfortunately, we have a long way to go before that will be the case, so until then, fast food workers should know their rights. Five Guys may now be a little more attuned to the feelings of its employees, however. Earlier this year, the company's chief executive officer Jerry Murrell gave Five Guys employees a bonus that totalled $1.5 million, after a recent buy-one-get-one-free offer intended to celebrate the burger franchise's 40th anniversary left many of the chain's locations overwhelmed. Speaking to Fortune, Murrell explained that he offered the bonus because, "I didn't want anyone shooting me in the back".