NYC Franchisee Pays $1.5M to Settle Taco Bell, Dunkin' Scheduling Violations

A Dunkin' and Taco Bell franchisee agreed to pay more than $1.5 million to settle a New York City investigation that found it systemically violated local scheduling laws at 24 Manhattan and Queens locations. Salz Management LLC will pay more than $1.5 million in restitution to 760 workers and an additional $155,000 in civil penalties.

A two-year probe by the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection found that Salz Management, the Dunkin' and Taco Bell franchisee, arbitrarily changed workers' schedules and failed to give workers schedules with 14 days' notice, in violation of the city's Fair Workweek Law. Salz Management also failed to obtain consent and pay premiums for "clopening" shifts, in which the same employee both closes a store at night and opens it again the next morning. The company also failed to offer newly available shifts to existing employees before making new hires, in violation of city law. Under NYC's Fair Workweek Law, a "clopening" is defined as two shifts with fewer than 11 hours between them, and the law requires a $100 payment for each such shift worked.

At the Salz properties, some employees are eligible for as much as $7,000 in restitution, according to redacted copies of the consent orders reviewed by THE CITY. The amount each eligible employee will receive depends on a variety of factors. Spokespersons for Salz Management LLC, Dunkin', and Taco Bell did not respond to requests for comment. Yum Brands and Inspire Brands, parent companies for Taco Bell and Dunkin' respectively, also did not respond to a request for comment.

"This city will not tolerate any corporation or franchisee that violates our Fair Workweek laws, or any of the hard-won labor protections that workers fought for and won," Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement. Mamdani and DCWP Commissioner Sam Levine were due to make the announcement on Monday but postponed it due to the deadly Air Canada crash at LaGuardia Airport.

The Jericho, Long Island-based company's franchise portfolio also includes Wing Stop, Wendy's, and Baskin-Robbins, according to their website.

The Salz settlement was not the only enforcement action the city announced. On the same day, the city announced it is filing suit against another Dunkin' franchisee, QSR Management LLC and its managing corporate officer Ronny Nader, on allegations that the business violated New York City scheduling laws for roughly 1,000 workers at 21 Dunkin' stores in Staten Island. The same franchisee had been required by the city in 2022 to pay relief to more than 100 workers.

The city's aggressive posture on scheduling enforcement has been building. In December, New York City announced that Starbucks would pay $38.9 million to settle claims it violated the city's scheduling law. On the day the Starbucks settlement was announced, Mamdani praised the agreement at a press conference he held alongside Senator Bernie Sanders at a picket of striking Starbucks workers. In 2025, the city opened 57 investigations against fast food employers for possible violations of the scheduling law, according to public metrics.

New York City was one of the first in the U.S. to limit "on-call scheduling," a practice in which retail, fast food, and other service businesses call workers in or cancel shifts with little notice. Business groups have criticized the laws, saying they are unworkable and can lead businesses to cut jobs. That tension hasn't slowed enforcement under the Mamdani administration. For workers at the 24 affected sites, the consent orders mean back pay is coming — and the era of last-minute schedule changes without a financial consequence appears to be over.