Labor Rights for Fast Food Workers

"Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his countrymen work for nothing, not paying them for their labor." —Jeremiah 22:13

Labor Rights: Fast-food workers denied their legal rights

In April and May of 2004, 27 employees were fired suddenly and without cause by Church's Chicken, Little Caesar's Pizza and Burger King, franchises all owned by the same company in Honduras. The employees were called aside by their supervisors and fired verbally, but when they went to collect their severance packages, they were told there was no written record authorizing their compensations. In Honduras, employers are required to pay employees a certain amount of money for each month they worked when they are fired for no wrongdoing. Some of the employees in question had worked for the fast-food chains for nearly 6 years and are owed up to $1,500. The employees complained to the Labor Ministry and hired a lawyer a take the case to Labor Court. But the lawyer abandoned them and the Ministry has not yet acted on its investigation of the restaurants (although it appears that the company will be fined for not cooperating fully with the Labor Ministry inspector).

A lawyer working for the Association for a More Just Society (AJS)'s Honduran partner organization, ASJ, has taken up their case and will act as their lawyer in pursuing their legal rights. All of these employees are low-income service sector workers, and most are single mothers. The group says that two of the women fired have already gone illegally to the United States, apparently in desperation of finding a way to make a living. A victory in this case will make a very big difference in the lives of all these 27 families and will show big businesses that this kind of corrupt behavior will not be tolerated by the Honduran people.

This is also a good example of the kind of case we expect to arise from the Gideon clinics, where all community members will have a place to bring their legal problems. (click here for Gideon Project)

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Two of the women who were fired
without cause by Church´s Chicken

The Association for a More Just Society (AJS) oversees and funds initiatives carried out by Honduran partner organization la Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ). AJS is a US-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so all donations to AJS are tax-deductible for US taxpayers.