KFC worker waiver runs ‘a-fowl’ of law: officials
The colonel got clucked.
Thirty KFC joints around the city will have to submit to a monitor after investigators found its owner violated the city’s Fair Workweek Law, the city Department of Consumer Affairs announced Monday.
The fried-chicken giant — with a smiling Colonel Sanders as the brand mascot — required workers to sign off on a waiver denying them the right to “premium pay,” which under the year-old workweek law entitles them to extra cash when their schedules get changed on short notice.
Such waivers, according to Consumer Affairs, are illegal.
Under the settlement, DCA is requiring KFC pay for and submit to an independent monitor, which is likely to ininspections clude unannounced on-site and payroll audits for 18 months.
“DCA has zero tolerance for anyone who breaks the law and violates the rights of employees,” agency Commissioner Lorelei Salas said. “This settlement is proof that no one is above the law and that workers in New York City have allies.”
The DCA probe found that the owner-operator, who runs KFC locations in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, also broke the workweek law by failing to post a predictable schedule notice and for not maintaining a record of employee consent forms for schedule changes.
Aside from falling under the monitor’s supervision, KFC has to fork over $80,000 in restitution to more than 600 employees.
Yum! Brands, KFC’s parent company, did not return calls. Hiren Patel, who’s listed as the owner-operator in the settlement, could not be reached.