Dick's Drive-In Faces Class-Action Suit Over Unpaid Overtime, Missed Breaks

A class-action complaint filed Feb. 18 in King County Superior Court alleges that Dick's Drive-In, the family-owned Seattle burger chain that just celebrated 72 years in business, routinely denied hourly workers their legally required rest and meal breaks and failed to pay resulting overtime wages.

Lead plaintiff Madison Masterson claims Dick's required employees to skip the 10-minute rest breaks Washington state mandates for every four hours of work and failed to provide 30-minute meal breaks when employees worked five or more hours. When those breaks were skipped, the complaint alleges, Dick's also failed to compensate workers for the missed time. The suit covers alleged violations spanning the last three years across Dick's 10 Puget Sound locations, which include restaurants in Wallingford, Queen Anne, and Broadway, where the chain has operated since 1955.

The overtime allegation turns on a compounding logic: if a missed break pushes a worker's week past 40 hours, the complaint argues those additional minutes should be paid at the overtime rate. The suit further claims some employees were denied sick-leave accrual tied to those missed breaks. Plaintiff's attorneys are seeking to include all "hourly paid or nonexempt employees" in the proposed class and are requesting reimbursements for lost wages, plus interest and attorneys' fees.

Dick's President and CEO Jasmine Donovan responded in a statement: "We value our employees and are committed to operating with integrity and in compliance with all applicable laws. While we cannot comment on the specifics of the allegations at this time, we are reviewing the claims thoroughly and will respond appropriately through the legal process." The company, which offers employees college and vocational scholarships along with health coverage, has long been positioned as one of the more worker-friendly fast-food employers in the Pacific Northwest.

Seattle's Office of Labor Standards said it has not investigated Dick's Drive-In. The agency reported one worker inquiry in 2022, but that worker was unresponsive and the office has received no inquiries since.

A labor law expert at Seattle University School of Law noted that break violations of this kind are common across the restaurant industry. Before any workers can collect, though, a judge must certify the class, a threshold step that requires showing the claims apply broadly enough to warrant collective treatment. As Seattle law professor Ford explained, "One of the very first things that happens in that litigation is that the plaintiff says, it's not just us. There is a large enough group that you, judge, should certify this as a class."

For line cooks and counter staff pulling back-to-back rushes at Dick's, the core allegation will be familiar: a busy shift with no one to cover a break, a manager waving you back to the register before the 10 minutes are up. Whether that pattern rises to a systemic, compensable violation is what the court will now have to decide.