Lawsuit Claims Chick-Fil-A Deprived Colorado Workers of Proper Breaks

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A proposed class action claims Chick-Fil-A has failed to provide Colorado workers with proper meal and rest breaks in accordance with state law.

According to the suit, the major fast-food chain owes workers additional straight-time and/or overtime pay for each instance they were deprived of a legally compliant meal or rest break.

Colorado’s Minimum Wage Act requires employers to provide employees with a 10-minute rest period during the first four hour of work or “major fractions thereof.” Each time Chick-Fil-A failed to provide a proper rest break, workers were effectively docked 10 minutes’ worth of pay, the lawsuit argues.

“In other words,” the suit says, “for each missed rest break, Defendant owes Plaintiff and other non-exempt employees additional straight-time and/or overtime pay for ten-minutes of unpaid work time.”

Similarly, state law entitles employees to an uninterrupted, duty-free 30-minute meal period for each work shift that exceeds five hours. For the break to be uncompensated, the employer must satisfy “certain strict statutory requirements,” the case relays. The lawsuit alleges that although Chick-Fil-A “could easily have provided” proper breaks, workers did not receive all required breaks or were docked time for meal breaks that failed to comply with state law. 

“Defendant had no legal justification for its failure to comply and, by failing to properly pay for the break time, shorted employees on their time-worked, minimum wages and compensation,” the complaint alleges, claiming workers are owed 30 minutes of straight-time and/or overtime wages for each time they were not provided with a proper meal break.

The lawsuit, which was removed from El Paso County, Colorado District Court to the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on December 11, looks to represent anyone who worked for the defendant as an hourly employee in the state within the statute of limitations period.

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