Cheat Fresh: Subway Is The Biggest Fast Food Wage Thief

[xchrom]

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/05/02/3433758/wage-theft-subway/



No fast food company has been caught committing wage theft as many times as Subway, according to a CNN Money review of Labor Department records.

Subway stores have been found guilty of 17,000 separate violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act stemming from over 1,100 separate investigations since the year 2000. That is the most wage and hour violations of any fast food company, although other companies would top the list on a per-location basis.

The sandwich chain’s status as America’s leading wage and hour violator comes as something of a surprise given that most of the recent focus on wage theft has centered on McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s. A recent survey found that nine of every 10 workers at those chains has been denied pay for time they worked or experienced other forms of wage theft such as being made to clock out but stick around when things aren’t busy. Those companies pay their CEOs more than a thousand times better than their workers, while also overseeing rampant theft of those low wages. Fast food is a major driver of the broader wage theft epidemic, which robs more money from people each year than every store holdup and bank robbery combined.

But the Department of Labor has taken to working directly with Subway’s corporate parent company to stem the chain’s wage theft epidemic, according to CNN. That government effort highlights one of the tricky things about fighting wage theft at giant corporations. Because most fast food stores are operated by individuals using franchise agreements rather than by the brand itself, the law generally treats them as small businesses. It is hard to hold Subway Corporate legally liable for wage theft committed by its franchisees, and fast food companies in general enjoy a smokescreen against Labor Department investigators and the sorts of massive fines that recent wage theft lawsuits have produced against franchisees.

[Agschmid]

1. That's ridiculous.

Hey hang out in case it gets busy but we aren't going to pay you for that...

Subways are mostly franchise (I think) so there is a lot of complicity going on with these job creators.

Gross.

[surrealAmerican]

2. I imagine there's somebody here who knows this:

... what does a franchise contract look like? Can the franchise owner be dropped or fined by the parent company for breaking the rules? Do the rules ever include labor standards?

[Heidi]

3. Kick!!!

And mornin', sunshine!

[JoeyT]

4. If any company is doing it twice, the fines aren't nearly punitive enough.

If a company does it 17000 times, the fines aren't punitive at all.

That it's a fine in the first place is bullshit. If one of those workers snuck into the manager's office and stole twenty bucks, they'd be dragged out in handcuffs. Yet that manager can steal thousands from the employees and get a slap on the wrist.

[Puglover]

5. AFAIAC

All of these nasty places are pure ripoffs.

I have been into a Subway once. I stopped because I was starving and ordered a meat ball sandwitch. What they put in front of me was so pitiful and unacceptable that I said to the lady behind the counter, "Um, that isn't what I ordered; I ordered that." And pointed at the picture of a meatball sandwich on their board. Obviously the owner of the franchise sets the portions. The lady behind the counter said, "this is our meatball sandwich. I politely said, "I'll pass then. Thank you." And left.

I would never be mean to a service employee but fuck these pathetic excuses for a business. I simply won't give them my business.

[laundry_queen]

6. I do wonder if the franchise owner sets portions

I've had such a difference in quality in different locations in different chains it's unreal. For instance, our local DQ is pathetic. If you get a blizzard, you almost have to ask for 'extra stuff' or you can't even taste the flavor you order. In another location 10 min away, I never have to order extra stuff and I get so much topping the bottom half of the blizzard is almost solid topping. I've complained to corporate about our local DQ many times and never had a response. I complained to the manager of the local DQ once and got a free blizzard, but they haven't changed their practices at all...

Subway, same thing. I used to live in a fairly remote area and my friend and I would always take our kids to Subway...only 1 of 2 fast food places in town. We loved it...kids could pick what they wanted on each sandwich and the portions were great. I moved away and I have eaten at Subway less than 5 times in the 8 years I've moved away from that small northern town...because all the local ones are fuggin horrible. LOL, one time, I asked for a particular sauce. The worker put a small squirt. I said, "um, could you put more on please? Last time I couldn't even taste it." She gave another small squirt. "More please" Another even smaller squirt. I knew where this was going, so I just kept saying, "more please. more. more. More than that. more. keeping going. more. more." LOLOL. Seriously? It was such small squirts it was fucking pathetic. So while they gained that 0.0000000001% margin on sauce, they lost a regular customer.