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Chick-fil-A's operator in North Carolina was heavily criticized recently due to its sandwich voucher program. The fast-food restaurant chain ended the program wherein it asked for volunteers to work in its drive-thru, and they will be "paid" with sandwich vouchers.
According to Fox Business, the Chick-fil-A outlet located in Hendersonville, North Carolina, posted the offer on its official Facebook page last week. However, the post was filled with critical responses, and these were placed under the comments section for everyone to see.
With the flood of negative responses to the offer, the restaurant took down the post from its social media accounts. The company was called out by some people who mentioned that some Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) policies may have been violated by the offer as well. They have pointed to the rule that forbids private or for-profit companies from calling up volunteers to perform regular job duties.
"We are looking for volunteers for our new Drive Thru Express!" the said Chick-fil-A outlet in N.C. wrote on Facebook. This post was immediately deleted after the backlash.
USA Today reported that there is also an earlier post where Chick-fil-A explained that volunteers will get five free entrees per shift which is equivalent to an hour of work. The restaurant requested those who are interested to send a message for more details.
The response to the post was not only for the volunteer job and the compensation for it but customers also complained that they did not want to be served by people who were not trained for the job. And when the post was finally pulled down, one wrote: "Glad to see you deleted the highly illegal volunteer post. Pay workers' money, not chicken."
In any case, Jennifer Haigwood, the labor communications director in North Carolina, told Fox News that any private-sector employer under the FLSA is not allowed to appoint employees for volunteer services.
"After carefully reviewing claims and other details brought to our attention, we have decided to stop this program and not move forward in the future," the restaurant stated in response to the backlash. "We are always looking for fun and creative ways to engage our community. Unfortunately, we brought unnecessary negativity and misplaced regional/national attention to our town instead. I apologize for this and will continue to make all efforts to treat our guests with honor, dignity, and respect."
