UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — WUSA9 has new information on a story so many of our viewers brought to our attention. It is about the sudden closure of five fast-food restaurants in Maryland. Even though the Maryland Bojangles still has active job listings on Indeed.com, the chicken restaurants closed in late 2023.
Now, we are hearing from former employees who are raising serious concerns about how the business was run.
The employees allege gross mismanagement of money. One woman told us owners owe her more than $5,000 in back pay.
“It’s our word against theirs,” said the former employees.
But we are not just taking her word for it. Even though this former Bojangles shift manager did not want to share her name, she showed us receipts. Her story was like so many who reached out to WUSA9, alleging wage theft, counterfeit checks and fraudulent W2s.
“I was never disgruntled I have all my paperwork, I called the Department of Labor, I went to the IRS in Washington, D.C.,” said the former employee who worked for the company for six years. She said she quit in December 2022, just two months after the new franchisee purchased the fast-food chains.
She showed WUSA9 cashier checks that she said were fraudulent and not accepted at banks.
“What stood out was there was no pay stub attached, no documentation of my hours, how much I worked, and how much they would be pulling out of our check,” she explained, “These checks were not my full pay. And when I told them I was going to call the cops on them and they said, ‘This is not a street brawl, you don't have to be ghetto.’ I felt very offended as a Black woman because I felt violated, disrespected and discriminated against.”
She and so many employees who emailed the station told us the money problems extended to the restaurants’ basic operations.
"We went from four shipments to just one and when we asked them why we were running out of food and they said it costs too much to supply,” she recalled. “So, at this point, we're going to other businesses like Popeyes or we’d go to Safeway or Checkers just to get chicken, buttermilk, or even ice for customers."
WUSA9 reached out to Bojangles. A spokesperson told us the franchisee no longer works for the company and former employees must contact him. This woman said he is not returning calls. When WUSA9 reached out, we could not get a hold of him either.
WUSA9 is still waiting to hear back from the Maryland Department of Labor. However, advocates said there are some civil remedies that these employees can take including filing a complaint of wage theft with the Department of Labor and reaching out to the office of taxpayer advocate through the IRS.
Do you have a news tip on this story or any other story? We want to hear from you. Tell us about it by emailing newstips@wusa9.com.
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