New local enforcement toolkit strengthens protections for fast-food workers

The National Employment Law Project has compiled state and local guides that put concrete enforcement tools in the hands of municipal and state labor agencies, worker advocates, and employees at fast-food restaurants including many McDonald’s locations. The materials map out how local regulators can pursue unpaid wages, enforce scheduling protections, and use permit and inspection powers to pressure employers that repeatedly violate labor rules.

The guides emphasize a range of legal levers that affect front-line workers. They describe wage-theft enforcement strategies, hot-goods provisions that can block or seize goods tied to labor violations, and approaches to conditioning business permits on labor compliance. They also explain how local labor agencies can investigate minimum-wage and scheduling complaints, recover unpaid wages, and coordinate targeted enforcement against individual operators or broader franchise systems.

For workers and advocates the guides offer step-by-step options for documenting and reporting violations. Recommended actions include collecting time records and pay stubs, keeping contemporaneous notes of shifts and missed breaks, preserving electronic schedules and messages, and gathering witness statements. Those materials walk through administrative complaint processes at city and state labor offices, options for asking permitting or licensing agencies to open labor compliance reviews, and tactics for coordinating complaints across jurisdictions when violations span multiple locations.

Because a large share of McDonald’s restaurants are owned by franchisees, the guides highlight mechanisms that cities and states can use to hold operators accountable at the local level. Localities can prioritize inspections of franchised restaurants with histories of wage-and-hour or health-and-safety violations, tie new or renewed permits to proof of compliance, and share enforcement intelligence across agencies. The materials also outline ways legal aid groups and worker centers can build multi-site complaint campaigns to surface patterns of misconduct and press for systemic remedies.

For McDonald’s employees this framework can change workplace dynamics by shifting some enforcement power from individual workers to public agencies and organized advocates. Instead of relying solely on one-off claims, workers can trigger coordinated investigations that recover back pay, prompt schedule adjustments, and compel corrective action by franchise owners. Employers facing repeated enforcement may encounter permit delays or increased scrutiny that has a direct business impact.

The practical emphasis of the guides means workers and local staff have a playbook they can use immediately: document violations, file complaints with the appropriate agency, and engage local permitting or licensing offices to amplify enforcement. Expect continued use of these tools as advocates and municipal regulators test which strategies produce faster wage recoveries and fairer scheduling outcomes at franchised fast-food restaurants.