Skip to main content
A jury has awarded over $6 million to Oregon employees of Jack in the Box who had filed a class action lawsuit accusing the fast food chain of years of wage theft. The case has been litigated for the past 12 years before coming to an end in the Portland federal courthouse on Monday.
“We’re happy to finally get some justice on behalf of the 5,000 Oregon workers that Jack in the Box was nickel-and-diming over their entire employment,” says Jon Egan, attorney for the six employees that brought the case in 2010.
Those 5,000 workers will now all be sent a check with their portion of the $6,385,179, plus significant interest, that was awarded by the court, Egan says.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued Jack in the Box had withheld too much from employee’s paychecks, denied employees rest breaks, and failed to pay overtime. A jury agreed.
Here’s a few highlights from the six-day trial:
In an opening statement, an attorney for Jack in the Box, David Symes, mused that employees might be taking shorter-than-mandated rest breaks because they “wanted to come help their friends.” Their complaints, he thought, were “so sad, too bad.”
During the trial, Wendy Sanderlin, director of payroll operations for Jack in the Box, admitted the company had noticed the withholding error and fixed it—but never reimbursed its employees.
The lawsuit also took issue with the company’s special nonskid shoes. Seeking to reduce worker compensation complaints, Jack in the Box had mandated employees purchase custom shoes from specific suppliers. The cost was deducted from their paycheck. Jack in the Box then took a $2 kickback from chosen vendors.
Thanks to the lawsuit, those payments—referred to in the legal complaint as “commercial bribes”—will be refunded to the employees.
This isn’t even the first multimillion-dollar payment Jack in the Box has made in response to wage theft allegations this year. It paid out $50 million to settle a California lawsuit in June.