With as little as many Sodexo workers are paid, it's especially remarkable that there are numerous allegations that workers at the company sometimes don't even receive everything the company owes them.

For example, Sodexo has allegedly forced employees to work off the clock, failed to pay people for all the hours they worked, neglected to pay proper overtime, or denied a worker their job back after returning from medical or maternity leave - a right guaranteed under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Employees Aren't Paid for All the Hours They Work

• In August 2008, the U.S. Dept. of Labor found that eight Sodexo food service workers at Alderson-Broaddus College in Phillipi, WV, were due $1,334.22 in back wages for meal breaks they didn't take. Sodexo automatically deducted the breaks from their paychecks, even though employees often weren't able to take their scheduled breaks. This wasn't the first time that Sodexo had shorted workers at the university. The Dept. of Labor noted that "this establishment has a previous history" that includes investigations of 28 cases, including one in July 1997 in which 148 employees were found to be owed $62,081 "due to error in totaling time cards."


• In July 2007, the DOL found that five Sodexo food service employees at Bel-Aire Nursing Home (also known as Extendicare) in Lower Burrell, PA, also were not properly compensated because of the same sort of improper automatic deductions. These employees received a total of $2,931.40 in back pay, and a penalty of $1,100 was levied on Sodexo.


• In August 2004, Sodexo janitors at the Cherry Hill, NJ, school district, were awarded $4,279.32, and a $2,860 penalty levied against the company after the U.S. Dept. of Labor found that "the company had employees working off the clock, & was having employees use 2 time cards to keep track of overtime." The investigation found that 13 employees were owed 24 hours of overtime apiece. According to the DOL's case narrative, "Employees in some school came into the workplace and started to work and then did not punch in until their scheduled time or they would punch out and then go back to work."

Violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act

• In August 2008, a Sodexo employee in California was paid $20,116.03 in back pay, and returned to the same level position, after the U.S. Dept. of Labor found that she had not been reinstated to an equivalent position after going on medical leave in June 2007 for the birth of her child.


• In February 2008, U.S. Dept. of Labor found that the company wrongfully terminated a Sodexo food service worker at the West Windsor (NJ) School District received after she requested FMLA leave to take care of her sick father. The DOL found she was entitled to $13,672.40 in back pay and severance pay. Ultimately, she declined settlement offers and pursued private legal action.