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McDonald’s hit with $250m wage theft claim
McDonald’s has been served with a whopping wage theft claim from hundreds of thousands of employees who were allegedly denied rest breaks they were entitled to.
Lauren Croft
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) is seeking compensation on behalf of over 250,000 current and former McDonald’s employees across the country.
According to the statement of claim, workers allegedly had to seek permission to go to the toilet or get a drink and could be asked to resume their shift before their rest break was finished.
Since December 2020, the SDA has lodged 15 claims on behalf of almost 1,000 workers against the fast-food giant and its franchisees.
The SDA’s 15 claims are, collectively, the biggest of their kind in Australian history, with workers from 129 sites across the nation openly coming forward to stand up against systemic exploitation and deception.
In a statement, SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer said that the fast-food giant “cannot plead ignorance”, as it intends to defend the claims.
“From our investigation, it’s clear to us that McDonald’s and franchisees conspired to deliberately and systematically deny workers their paid rest breaks,” he said.
“This multi-billion-dollar global corporation owes some of our lowest-paid and youngest workers millions in compensation — it’s time they stopped clowning around and took responsibility for this exploitation. As one of the largest employers of young people, they need to do better.”
This news follows the launch of a class action against McDonald’s last year for the same claims — in what was called a “systematic failure” at the time.
The joint investigation from Shine Lawyers and the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU), after a Federal Court decision in August 2020, found that former McDonald’s employee Chiara Staines was not provided with paid 10-minute rest breaks when working shifts four hours or longer. Ms Staines was awarded the value of her lost rest breaks in addition to compensation for loss of amenity.
Filed in the Federal Court, the class action is open to any current and former McDonald’s workers who worked at any corporate-owned McDonald’s from December 2015 and any franchised McDonald’s from September 2017.
Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
