RESTAURANTS
Chipotle to pay ex-employees $240,000 after closing Maine location that tried to unionize
PUBLISHED MON, MAR 27 2023 | 10:52 AM EDT | UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Amelia Lucas
@THXAMELIAN
KEY POINTS
Chipotle Mexican Grill has agreed to pay $240,000 to the former employees of an Augusta, Maine, location that tried to unionize.
The National Labor Relations Board found in November that the burrito chain violated federal labor law by shuttering the Augusta location and blacklisting organizers.
To date, just one Chipotle location has voted to unionize.
Chipotle Mexican Grill has agreed to pay $240,000 to the former employees of an Augusta, Maine, location as part of a settlement for closing the restaurant when workers tried to unionize. ... Chipotle denied wrongdoing, despite settling the lawsuit with the federal labor board and the union.
We settled this case not because we did anything wrong, but because the time, energy and cost to litigate would have far outweighed the settlement agreement, Laurie Schalow, Chipotles chief corporate affairs officer, said in a statement to CNBC on Monday.
Employees at the Chipotle restaurant filed a petition to unionize under Chipotle United in late June, becoming the chains first outlet to do so. Prior to the filing, workers had already walked out in protest of working conditions and understaffing.
Less than a month later, Chipotle
closed the restaurant, citing staffing issues and saying it respected workers right to organize. However, in November, the National Labor Relations Board
found that the burrito chain violated federal labor law when it closed the restaurant and stopped organizers from being hired at its other locations in the state.
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