Checkers managers clocked employees out while they worked and deleted shifts, feds say

Checkers managers in Alabama deleted workers’ shifts from timecards and altered records to underpay employees, federal officials said.

Now the company owes 36 workers nearly $27,000 in back wages and damages, the Department of Labor said in a Jan. 4 news release.

Managers at two Checkerboard LLCs in Montgomery are accused of:

• Clocking out workers as they were working.
• Deducting break times even when workers didn’t take breaks.
• Deleting shifts from employees’ pay records.
• Reducing workers’ hours on their timecards to avoid paying overtime.
  
  

Labor officials said the franchises “knowingly permitted” this activity.

McClatchy News could not immediately reach Checkers for comment Jan. 4.

The company was also slapped with a $3,636 in penalties for repeatedly failing to comply with labor standards, officials said. The Department of Labor cited the company in 2020 for wage violations at its Rally locations operated in Alabama.

In addition to handing down wage citations, officials said they found the company employed six 15-year-olds for more hours than they are allowed to work under federal guidelines while they were in school. The company owes $5,228 for child labor violations, the agency said.

The Fair Labor Standards Act restricts the hours that 14- and 15-year-olds can work, and it establishes regulations for overtime and recordkeeping.

“When employers act in bad faith and permit managers to alter time records to reduce labor costs, the Department of Labor will act to protect workers and other law-abiding employers,” department official Kenneth Stripling said in the release.

In total, the company must pay $35,791.

This story was originally published January 5, 2024 at 7:43 AM with the headline "Checkers managers clocked employees out while they worked and deleted shifts, feds say."