Chipotle to pay $240,000 after closing store that tried to unionize
Chipotle Mexican Grill announced Monday that it will pay a $240,000 settlement to ex-employees of one of its Maine restaurants after it closed the location when employees tried to unionize.
The Mexican fast-food chain announced in 2022 that it was permanently shuttering the store in Augusta, Maine, after the employees there filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold union elections. The NLRB said that this closure was illegal, and sued Chipotle.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Each ex-employee of the store will receive between $5,800 and more than $21,000 from the settlement, CNN reports, based on pay rates, hours worked, and salaries.
The settlement is "a win for food service workers across the country," Brandi McNease, a former Augusta Chipotle employee, said through the AFL-CIO. It "sends a message to corporations that shutting down a store and blackballing workers didn't work for Chipotle and it won't work for them either."
In a statement obtained by The Associated Press, Chipotle said it had settled the lawsuit "not because we did anything wrong, but because the time, energy, and cost to litigate would have far outweighed the settlement agreement."
Chipotle added that it "respects our employees' rights to organize under the National Labor Relations Act" and is "committed to ensuring a fair and just work environment that provides opportunities to all."
There are currently at least 10 other open labor practice cases against Chipotle, AP reports.
-
Political cartoons for January 19Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include Greenland tariffs, fighting the Fed, and more
-
Spain’s deadly high-speed train crashThe Explainer The country experienced its worst rail accident since 2013, with the death toll of 39 ‘not yet final’
-
Can Starmer continue to walk the Trump tightrope?Today's Big Question PM condemns US tariff threat but is less confrontational than some European allies
-
‘The surest way to shorten our lives even more is to scare us about sleep’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Judge clears wind farm construction to resumeSpeed Read The Trump administration had ordered the farm shuttered in December over national security issues
-
Maduro’s capture: two hours that shook the worldTalking Point Evoking memories of the US assault on Panama in 1989, the manoeuvre is being described as the fastest regime change in history
-
A running list of US interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean after World War IIin depth Nicolás Maduro isn’t the first regional leader to be toppled directly or indirectly by the US
-
How robust is the rule of law in the US?TODAY’S BIG QUESTION John Roberts says the Constitution is ‘unshaken,’ but tensions loom at the Supreme Court
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
‘Maps are the ideal metaphor for our models of what the world might be’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
What is China doing in Latin America?Today’s Big Question Beijing offers itself as an alternative to US dominance
