Fast casual restaurant chain Chipotle illegally refused to give pay rises to its unionized workers in Lansing, Michigan, according to a recent investigation by U.S. labor board prosecutors.
Chipotle was given an option to settle the claims by Lansing workers, who are part of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, or face a formal complaint raised by the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel.
The Lansing location became the first and, to this date, the only Chipotle to have unionized workers in July of 2022. However, the restaurant employees are still waiting to close their first collective bargaining agreement with the company.
As it turns out, Chipotle used the fact that Lansing workers are part of the union to withhold pay hikes that are otherwise given to employees at other locations. The explanation was that being in the union prevented them from being eligible.
Chipotle, which has around 3,400 restaurants in the United States and employs close to 120,000 workers, is no stranger to coming under scrutiny from labor watchdogs for its questionable labor practices. Back in 2023, the chain was forced to pay $240,000 as part of the settlement after it closed a location in Augusta, Maine, because the restaurant’s workers were trying to unionize.