After a year-long investigation, state labor regulators have recovered and paid $870,541 in owed wages to 264 McDonald’s employees in Darien and Fairfield.
State Department of Labor (DOL) Commissioner Kurt Westby announced Wednesday that McDonald’s franchisee Mitchell Enterprises LLC, which owns three chain restaurants, violated a state statute that requires standard wage rates for certain service workers.
DOL said its issuance of bills in June included civil penalties totaling $35,800, in addition to wages and interest of $870,541. All checks ranging from $13.73 to $12,496.28 were distributed to employees of the three McDonald’s locations.
Westby said he was “pleased” that Mitchell Enterprises LLC, of New Canaan, cooperated with the investigation and “corrected and made right by their workers.”
“A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work is the minimum responsibility of an employer,” he said in a statement.
DOL’s probe of the unpaid wages was encouraged by a push from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 32BJ, which Westby said stood by their workers and helped protect their rights to fair pay.
In 2019, DOL said its Division of Wage and Workplace Standards recovered nearly $2.8 million, and more than $5.5 in 2018 on behalf of Connecticut workers.
