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QSR giants target of farmworkers' class action suits

September 21, 2011

Sixteen current and former Immokalee, Fla., farmworkers have filed four separate lawsuits against Burger King, McDonald's, Taco Bell and Subway. Their class action suits are on behalf of an additional 2,000 workers.

According to the News-Press, the suit stems from the chains' agreements to pay the workers 1 cent more per pound for Florida tomatoes picked between 2007 and 2010. However, the workers claim the extra money was never paid.

The plaintiffs worked for LFC Agricultural Services, a subsidiary of Six L's Packing Company.

Greg Schell, the plaintiffs' attorney and a member of the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project, estimates the amount owed is about $2 million, or 200 million pennies.

Schell said the main culprit is the Coalition for Immokalee Workers, which negotiated the agreements with the QSR chains. He added that the coalition is advising the chains not to distribute the amount owed.

Accordingly, the chains have not communicated with Schell or the plaintiffs. Even though he points the finger at the coalition, it is not a defendant in the lawsuits.

Steve Hitov, coalition attorney, provided a written response this week on behalf of his clients:

"We don't support this lawsuit, because we think it's wrong on the facts and wrong on what it would impose. But anyone can file a lawsuit. That doesn't mean it has any merit. We're confident the court will make the right call on this, and we're happy to wait until that time to make any further comment."

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