Laid off by McDonald’s — can a new law restore their jobs?

Three of the longest-serving workers for a McDonald’s restaurant on Interstate 95 in Darien are suing the company after they were laid off in the coronavirus pandemic, then not rehired despite a new state law that requires the recalling of employees on the basis of seniority.

It’s believed to be the first lawsuit under a state statute that went into effect July 13, which applies to layoffs in certain industries during the pandemic emergency.

The workers, with a combined 53 years of service, say they were laid off last year and have not been offered their jobs back by the Windsor Locks-based Michell Enterprises LLC, which owns McDonald’s restaurants in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

In a complaint filed in state Superior Court, aided by a union that’s trying to organize fast-food workers at service plazas on Connecticut highways, the three are asking for back wages and benefits, as well as punitive damages and legal costs.

“We didn’t get a phone call, we didn’t get anything,” said Mario Franco, of Stamford, a 26-year employee of the I-95 McDonald’s, through an interpreter outside state Superior Court in Hartford during a morning news conference and rally on Wednesday, led by the SEIU 32BJ union.

“It could happen to me and I don’t want it to happen to anyone else,” said Franco, who had been making $15.15 an hour following a settlement between the restaurant owners and the state Department of Labor when he, Pilas Mestanza and Rosa Franco, also of Stamford, were laid-off. Mario and Rosa Franco are not related.

In all, eight experienced workers were not recalled, Franco and union officials said. The lawsuit alleges that the workers were laid off in October 2020, and that Michell hired other people in September of 2021.

Michell Enterprises did not return calls for comment, and its legal representatives on Wednesday had not responded to the filing of the lawsuit. The president of the company is George R. Michell, of New Canaan, according to state business registration filings. Its chief financial officer, Linda Cukurs, of Chicago, also did not return a request for comment.

Rochelle Palache, SEIU 32BJ vice-president and head of the Connecticut district, said the three plaintiffs were most likely not rehired because of their support for the union. Mario Franco and Rosa Franco were both in a 2019 Hearst CTInsider column about the union drive. Retaliation for union activity is barred under state and federal laws.

The recall law, which took effect on July 13 when it was signed by Gov. Ned Lamont, was the idea of two of the General Assembly’s most liberal lawmakers on labor issues: state Rep. Robyn Porter, of New Haven, and Sen. Julie Kushner, of Danbury, the Democratic co-chairwomen of the Labor and Public Employees Committee.

The law nearly failed this past spring. After Kushner led its passage through the Senate, business groups including state restaurateurs and business lobbyists complained it would raise costs as the pandemic still battered the state economy. So, for its passage in the House, Porter agreed to set a time limit on the bill’s effectiveness. Porter won House approval after the addition of a date to terminate — sunset — the law in May of 2022.

The amendment meant the Senate had to again act on the legislation. It passed on June 9, the last day of the legislative session. Porter said it came “really close” to failing in the waning days of the 2021 General Assembly. It covers workers in the lodging, food services and building service industries.

Kushner, in an interview along with Porter after the Hartford rally, recalled that the idea for the law started at a union event for workers laid off during the pandemic at the northbound Darien Service Plaza.

“We walked them back inside and asked the employers if they would hire them back and they had no response for us,” Kushner said. Then, she and Porter found out there was legislation elsewhere in the country that could force companies to recall veteran employees.

California and Nevada have similar laws to protect workers. An identical ordinance was passed locally in New Haven last year. “That’s what really made it personal for me,” Porter said. “There was no reason why we shouldn’t be able to do this at the state level and take care of all workers. Set a precedent.”

Nicole Rothgeb, the attorney handling the case for the workers, said under the law, employers with at least 15 employees who let go workers during the pandemic, must give them the opportunity to be rehired based on their number of years of service.

“There’s no requirement of any ill motive or untoward, draconian undermining motivation that an employee has to prove,” Rothgeb said. “It’s simply, this is what the law requires the employer to do and if they don’t, then there’s liability. It’s not about showing a hidden motivation.”

Rothgeb believes it’s the first case involving the new law.

Some of the McDonald’s workers also have pending cases before the National Labor Relations Board and the state Department of

Labor, including disputes over attempts to unionize; and a dispute over whether the workers are entitled to a higher “standard wage” because the service plazas are on state property.

Former state Labor Commissioner Kurt Westby ordered Michell to pay nearly about $870,000 in back wages to 264 McDonald’s employees at Michell locations in Fairfield County, in September, 2020. Westby, who retired in June, was previously head of SEIU 32BJ in Connecticut.

Kushner, a retired regional labor leader who was elected to the Senate in 2018, and Porter, a sevenyear member of the House, said they would like to revisit the law next year and possibly lengthen the period of its activity beyond May 2022.

Porter, during remarks to the crowd, said Michell Enterprises has been engaging in union-busting activities at a time when the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund helped companies as well as workers stay afloat in the pandemic’s dire business climate.

“We gave them relief,” Porter said. “So where is the relief for the workers who have committed and dedicated their lives like Mario, to a company that is making millions? Where’s the trickle-down? There is no trickle down, and that’s why this legislation and the work that we do at the state House on behalf of this labor movement is so critically important. Essential workers matter. There’s no profit without the people.”