$5M Papa John’s Class Action Settlement Ends ‘No Poach’ Employee Antitrust Litigation

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Papa John’s has agreed to pay $5,000,000 to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged the pizza chain unlawfully restricted the movement of employees between Papa John’s restaurants through ‘no-poach’ and ‘no-hire’ clauses built into franchise agreements.

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The Papa John’s employee settlement received preliminary approval from the court on August 7, 2025 and covers approximately 520,000 individuals who were employed at a Papa John’s restaurant in the United States at any time between December 18, 2014 and December 31, 2021 (i.e., the class period) and received more than $200 in compensation during that period.

The court-approved website for the Papa John’s class action settlement can be found at PapaJohnsEmployeeSettlement.com.

To submit a Papa John’s class action settlement claim form online, class members can head to this page and enter the unique class member ID and PIN found on their copy of the settlement notice. Consumers who believe they may be a class member but did not receive a notice should contact the settlement administrator to confirm their identity and receive their login information.

Alternatively, class members may download a PDF of the claim form from the Papa John’s settlement site to print, fill out, and return by mail to the address listed near the bottom of the webpage.

All Papa John’s class action settlement claim forms must be submitted online or postmarked by March 16, 2026.

According to the website, Papa John’s settlement class members who submit a valid, timely claim form are eligible to receive a one-time, pro-rated cash payment. Each class member’s share of the settlement fund will be based on the total amount they earned during the class period compared to all other class members.

If an approved claimant signed an arbitration agreement prior to the settlement, the agreement adds that they may submit a claim with a 75-percent discount applied, as agreed to by both parties.

Papa John’s settlement class members may elect to receive their payout via check or electronic payment, per the settlement agreement.

As part of the settlement, Papa John’s has also agreed to certain business practice changes, which will include providing antitrust compliance training for executives and notifying franchisees of Papa John’s continued commitment not to enforce no-poach provisions within the hiring process.

The court will determine whether to grant final approval to the Papa John’s class action settlement at a hearing on May 5, 2026. Compensation will begin to be distributed to class members only after final approval is granted and any appeals or reviews are resolved.

The Papa John’s class action lawsuit alleged that restrictive clauses within Papa John’s franchise agreements prevented individual franchisees from hiring or soliciting employees of other Papa John’s restaurants under threat of termination of their franchise rights, which limited workers’ wages and employment opportunities in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

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