March 23 (Reuters) - A Taco Bell and Dunkin franchisee has agreed to pay more than $1.5 million to settle claims by New York City that its managers at two dozen restaurants violated a local law requiring fast food businesses to give workers advance notice of their schedules and other protections, the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection said on Monday.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who took office in January, campaigned in part on strengthening enforcement of worker protection laws, and is scheduled to make an announcement about the settlement in the coming days.
Salz Management LLC, according to the city’s worker protection department, routinely failed to give workers sufficient notice of their schedules, pay extra wages for “clopening” shifts that require workers to close a store one night and open it the next morning, and offer available shifts to existing workers before hiring new ones, among other claims.
The city also announced on Monday it is filing suit against another Dunkin franchisee, QSR Management LLC and its managing corporate officer Ronny Nader, on allegations that the business violated New York City scheduling laws for roughly 1,000 workers at 21 Dunkin stores in Staten Island. The same franchisee was required by the city in 2022 to pay relief to more than 100 workers.
Neither franchisee responded to a request for comment by publication time.
In December, New York City announced that Starbucks would pay $38.9 million to settle claims it violated the city’s scheduling law. The office of then-mayor Eric Adams said it was the largest settlement involving worker protection in the city’s history.
On the day the Starbucks settlement was announced, Mamdani praised the agreement at a press conference he held alongside Senator Bernie Sanders at a picket of striking Starbucks workers.
Yum Brands and Inspire Brands, parent companies for Taco Bell and Dunkin respectively, did not respond to a request for comment.
New York City was one of the first in the U.S. to limit "on-call scheduling," a practice in which retail, fast food and other service businesses call workers in or cancel shifts with little notice. Oregon has adopted a similar law, along with Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and several other U.S. cities.
In 2025, the city opened 57 investigations against fast food employers for possible violations of the scheduling law, according to public metrics.
Business groups have criticized the laws, saying they are unworkable and can lead businesses to cut jobs.
Reporting by Waylon Cunningham, Editing by William Maclean
Source: Reuters