California Labor Commissioner Gets $1.7M Settlement in Wingstop Wage Theft Case

The California Labor Commissioner’s Office reached a $1.7 million wage theft settlement for 550 workers in an alleged scheme in which the owner of multiple Wingstop locations in Bakersfield created separate corporate entities to circumvent labor laws.

The franchisee must now pay $5 for every $1 that was originally owed. The LCO announcement follows a state investigation that uncovered a scheme in which a franchisee disguised the ownership of five Wingstop locations to allegedly deprive employees of wages, overtime and meal breaks.

The LCO began its investigation in 2020 after receiving a reported labor law violation for one of the locations. The investigation reportedly showed that between 2019 and 2022, five Wingstop businesses were each operating as separate corporate entities, although one owner, Clinton Lewis, operated each site and shared employees between the multiple locations. By treating each location as a separate employer, Lewis was reportedly able to pay workers the lower minimum wage rate designated for smaller employers with 25 or fewer employees.

Employees scheduled to work at more than one Wingstop in one day were reportedly denied overtime pay when they worked more than eight hours in a workday or 40 hours in a workweek. Lewis avoided paying missed meal break premiums to staff when scheduling them at more than one location. Additionally, employees were not compensated for off-the-clock work during their time traveling from one location to another, according to the LCO.

This settlement resolves the citations that covered minimum wage violations, contract wage violations, meal period premiums, liquidated damages, and waiting time penalties. Today’s settlement is an update from an earlier announcement.