Chipotle Pays $20M In Historic NYC Worker Protection Settlement: Mayor

NEW YORK CITY — A years-long probe into workweek violations at the city's Chipotle restaurants wrapped up with a $20 million settlement for the burrito giant's employees.

Roughly 13,000 Chipotle workers in the city will be compensated after they were cheated out of predictable schedules and paid sick leave, Mayor Eric Adams announced Tuesday.

Adams said the settlement followed a city investigation that found the company violated the city's fair workweek and sick leave laws.

"Workers must be able to plan their lives," he said.

The settlement is both the nation's largest over a fair workweek and the city's biggest for worker protection, officials said.

A city investigation began in 2018 as Chipotle employees and the 32BJ SEIU union filed complaints, said Vilda Vera Mayuga, commissioner for the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.

“Our investigations found that Chipolte did not give employees advance notice of work schedules, required employees to work extra time without their advance consent, did not properly compensate workers for schedule changes, did not offer available shifts to current employees before hiring new employees and did not allow employees to use sick leave,” she said.

Chipotle workers under the settlement can expect $50 for each week or part of a week that they worked between November 2017 and April this year, Mayuga said.

Read the full settlement here.