Minneapolis Requires Pizza Hut And Potbelly To Pay Back Workers $50,000 For Sick Leave

It's no small thing to see cities taking the well-being of workers seriously. According to the Twin Cities CBS affiliate, an investigation by the Minneapolis Labor Standards Enforcement Division recently found that downtown locations of both Pizza Hut and Potbelly Sandwich Shop were violating the Minneapolis sick and safe time ordinance. According to this ordinance, any business with more than six employees must provide "normal rates of pay" for a minimum of time off, allowing employees to take leave for "illness or injury, medical treatment or preventative care, domestic or sexual assault, and care of a family member." These two restaurant locations, it was found, did not pay any of this time off for any employee in 2019.

So Minneapolis did something about that. In one settlement agreement with the city, Muy Pizza Minnesota LLC (the franchise group that owns the Pizza Hut location) will compensate 43 workers $33,630 in unpaid sick leave; in a separate settlement with the city, Potbelly Sandwich Works LLC will pay 57 workers $19,795.

"The goal of the ordinance is to protect public health and prevent workers from being penalized because of illness or a need to care for a sick family member," Minneapolis city officials said in a statement.