News

Pizza Hut settles Coldiron dispute

March 5, 2006

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Yum! Brands announced in a regulatory filing that its Pizza Hut chain agreed to settle with 88 plaintiffs involved in a labor lawsuit.

The action, titled Coldiron v. Pizza Hut, Inc., was filed Aug. 13, 2003, in a California U.S. District Court and alleged restaurant general manager Ann Coldiron and other current and former Pizza Hut RGMs were improperly classified as exempt employees under the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act. Plaintiffs claimed their duties included non-managerial tasks for which they should have been paid overtime, and in the suit, they sought unpaid wages plus penalties.

Plaintiffs' lawyers claimed potentially thousands of Pizza Hut RGMs could participate in the class, but no more than several hundred ever joined the litigation. In June, Pizza Hut successfully pared the eligible class to 88 members.

According to the filing, the suit was settled last November, and Pizza Hut believes the settlement will be approved by the court within 60 to 90 days following submission of the documents to the court. Pizza Hut did state the terms of the settlement.

In other Pizza Hut news, the number of Pizza Hut-WingStreet cobrand restaurants grew to 669 in 2005, up from about 400 last year.

For all of 2005, Pizza Hut's same-store sales were flat versus a 5 percent increase in 2004. Transactions fell 5 percent in 2005 though the chain's average guest check rose 5 percent.

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