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institutionalnews · 2 years ago

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They recruited IT staffers with the promise of a prestigious career. But there’s a catch — workers had to stay for two years or pay nearly $24,000

A new lawsuit against Smoothstack, a technology-focused staffing agency, is the latest to highlight the trade-offs of training repayment agreements.

The pitch from Smoothstack, a technology-focused staffing agency, is simple: Earn money while you train, get deployed to an IT job at a top tech company, start working and launch your career.

But the reality is more complicated, a lawsuit alleges. Throughout this process, Smoothstack underpays workers while they train and even once they start working at one of the company’s clients, which include Fortune 500 companies, the lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in Alexandria, Va., claims. If a worker tries to leave Smoothstack before billing 4,000 hours — roughly equivalent to two years of work — to one of Smoothstack’s clients, they owe the company roughly $24,000, according to the suit.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a former Smoothstack employee that seeks class-action status, is the latest to highlight the practice of employers binding workers to companies through training repayment agreements. These provisions in employment contracts require workers to pay their employers if they leave their job before working for a minimum amount of time set by the company.

Over the past several months, regulators have upped their scrutiny on these deals, which cover employees in industries representing about one-third of all workers in the U.S. By threatening to saddle employees with debt if they quit, these agreements have stoked the ire of both consumer and labor advocates, who say they’re employers’ latest tool in the fight to maintain power over workers.

The contracts can violate labor laws in a number of ways, including by pushing the cost of training that principally benefits the employer onto a worker, advocates and attorneys have alleged. They’ve also argued in some cases that these provisions violate consumer protection laws surrounding the information lenders are required to disclose to borrowers about credit they offer.

The Smoothstack lawsuit, “shows that employers are becoming more and more aggressive and creative in their design of contracts to keep workers trapped in their jobs,” said Jonathan Harris, an associate professor at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.

The dynamics highlighted in the case also offer a window into the next iteration of companies using the promise of “fancy training and a big career,” to lure desperate job seekers into taking a risk that they will wind up with a “huge unaffordable debt,” said Persis Yu, deputy executive director and managing counsel at the Student Borrower Protection Center, an advocacy group whose attorneys are representing the plaintiff in the suit.

The tactics of collapsed for-profit college chains provide the most aggressive examples of this approach, but the idea that more schooling or training will help a job seeker land a better gig and improve their earnings, is “at its core what the promise of student loans is,” she said.

The Smoothstack lawsuit illustrates another way that “debt is creeping in and really undermining the goal of education and training as a form of social mobility,” she said.

Smoothstack did not respond to a request for comment.

Looking for a job at the height of the pandemic When Justin O’Brien, the named plaintiff in the case, was looking for work during the height of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, he came across advertising from Smoothstack, pitching that he could get paid to do programming assignments starting at $55,000 a year, according to the complaint. After a year of working for a call center for low-pay and amid a health and economic crisis, where he was concerned about his ability to land decent-paying work, O’Brien decided to apply for a job with the company.

O’Brien began training with Smoothstack and worked up to 80 hours a week, the 43-page complaint alleges. For three weeks he wasn’t paid for his work, then at the end of that period Smoothstack asked O’Brien to sign a contract promising to pay the company $23,895 if he worked for the firm for less than two years. O’Brien signed the contract because he “desperately needed the job,” according to the complaint, and because at that point he’d already worked for Smoothstack for nearly three weeks without pay.

O’Brien continued on in Smoothstack’s training program for the next several months. According to the complaint, participants in the training program would tackle assignments that usually involved writing code for different software programs. The skills and time required to complete the assignments escalated as the training program progressed. Participants were often given quick deadlines — sometimes as fast as 24 hours or over the weekend — to complete assignments, the suit alleges.

During the training program, Smoothstack only paid recruits for up to 40 hours of work per week, even though they frequently worked longer hours, according to the complaint. During this period, recruits were paid the minimum wage where they lived for this work.

After about five months working in this setting, Smoothstack deployed O’Brien at Accenture ACN, +1.19%, the IT and consulting giant. At that point, he was presented with a new agreement that required him to pay Smoothstack $23,895 if he left the company before billing 4,000 hours — the equivalent of two years — to a Smoothstack client. Even once O’Brien was deployed to a client he remained a Smoothstack employee.

O’Brien “identified immediately that he had to sign – or else he would be in violation of the Training Agreement,” that he’d signed after the three-week unpaid training period, according to the complaint. “This is because the TRAP in the Training Agreement bound Plaintiff to a Service Commitment Period of 4,000 hours of work for a Smoothstack client, which was not possible to perform until after he completed the Training Program.”

For more than two years, O’Brien worked for Accenture through his agreement with Smoothstack. For much of that time he was paid $20 an hour less than the prevailing market rate for computer programmers, the suit alleges. He received positive reviews from those overseeing his work at the company. Accenture did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

About two and a half years after O’Brien was deployed to Accenture by Smoothstack, he sent correspondence to Smoothstack through his lawyer to try to convince the company to settle the class-wide claims of wage and hour violations he ultimately alleged through the suit, according to the complaint. Over the next few months, O’Brien through his attorney tried to get a response from Smoothstack to his claims, the lawsuit alleges.

Then in March of this year, the company moved O’Brien from Accenture to “bench status,” a situation where was still an employee of Smoothstack but wasn’t deployed to any of the company’s clients. During this period he earned minimum wage and couldn’t rack up the billable hours needed to escape his training repayment agreement provision, according to the complaint. O’Brien ultimately filed the suit on April 4 of this year and was terminated by Smoothstack on April 7.

Employers increasingly asking workers to pay for training they don’t benefit from O’Brien alleges that the training repayment agreement violates certain labor laws, including those regulating the minimum wage. In earlier cases decades ago, courts declined to find that training repayment agreements violated minimum wage law, where the training benefited the employee, said David Seligman, the executive director at Towards Justice, a nonprofit law firm that is representing the workers in the suit.

Historically the training employers typically required workers to repay provided training or education furnished by the employer that employee could carry with them if they left the company. For example, sponsoring a worker’s MBA.

But increasingly companies are asking workers to pay for training that is principally for the employer’s benefit, Seligman said. When that’s the case, the agreements violate various labor laws, he said. “It’s the cost of employing someone,” Seligman said of training that primarily benefits the employer. “Those costs can’t be shifted onto workers, when they are shifted onto workers then it’s a deduction and a kickback of their wages.”

In some cases, even if the training provides a benefit that the employee can take with them, training debt may still violate consumer protection and other laws, Seligman added. And yet, the Smoothstack suit highlights how pervasive these contract provisions are, he said.

“It’s not just nursing, it’s not just PetSmart,” he said, referring to a high-profile lawsuit filed by Towards Justice and with support from SBPC about a training repayment agreement used by the pet retailer. “We’re talking about software developers, we’re talking about engineers, we’re talking about large segments of the economy. We’re talking about major Fortune 500 companies who are depending on these workers in order to meet their labor demands.”

Though in many cases these agreements don’t hold up in court — a Virginia state court already held that Smoothstack’s TRAP is unenforceable, according to the complaint — they can still have “a chilling effect,” Seligman said.

“Including them is a powerful threat against workers,” he said. “The consequences in many cases for doing that are far too weak.”

The use of these agreements has ticked up in recent years for a few reasons, according to Harris, the law professor, who is also a fellow at the Student Borrower Protection Center. For one, the tight labor market and worker shortages in certain sectors has pushed companies to find ways to keep their workers. They’re also part of a broader decline in worker power and unionization that’s taken place over the past few decades.

In addition, as state and federal regulators scrutinize non-compete agreements, or clauses that prevent employees from working for a competitor after they leave a job for a period of time, employers are looking for other ways to make it difficult for workers to leave.

“This Smoothstack scheme is one of several quite bold contracts that I’ve seen employers come up with just in the past year as workarounds potentially to government restrictions on other kinds of restrictive contracts,” Harris said. “They’re coming up with novel schemes to have the same effect of keeping workers in their jobs through punitive contracts, but that would survive scrutiny by government agencies and courts.”

The Federal Trade Commission proposed a rule earlier this year that would ban noncompete agreements. The agency’s proposed regulation includes a provision limiting the use of training repayment agreements, calling them out as “a de facto non compete agreement because it has the same effect of keeping workers from leaving their jobs,” Harris said.

“The bad news is that it includes a caveat that only covers TRAPs where the repayment amount is not reasonably related to the amount the employer spent on training,” Harris said. “That is a major loophole that employers will exploit if it’s not closed.”

Last year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also launched an inquiry into employer-driven debt. The Student Borrower Protection Center has encouraged the agency to scrutinize training repayment provisions and enforce consumer protection laws surrounding credit products when they apply. The CFPB should also routinely monitor debt collectors hired by employers to recoup the money owed by former employees under these agreements, the SBPC said.

“It’s a predatory student loan for a for-profit school that overstates its success rate,” Seligman said. “That kind of story that we’re all too familiar with. The different variation is the debt is used to rob workers of their bargaining power to keep workers trapped in their jobs.”

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bad-mom-korea · 2 years ago

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나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 다시 보기

드라마 나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 다시 보기 재방송 가능합니다.

넷플릭스 나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 다시 보기 링크 <

티빙, 넷플릭스 ott 무료로 볼수 있습니다.

나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 방송(방영) 시간: 오후 10시30분 나쁜 엄마 몇부작: 14부작 나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 방송일: 2023년 5월 17일

William Taylor는 쓰레기 사진을 찍었습니다.

최근에는 Watts 보도를 막고 종려나무 가지, 쇼핑 카트, 자차 타이어, 부풀어 나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 다시 보기 오른 쓰레기 봉투를 포함하는 거대한 더미였습니다. 그는 자신의 사진을 로스앤젤레스 시 위생국에 보내거나 311 핫라인에 전화해 불법적으로 투기된 물품을 수거했지만, 직원을 내보내려면 여러 번 전화를 걸고 2주가 걸릴 수 있다고 말했습니다. 70세의 베트남 전쟁 참전용사이자 Watts 출신인 그는 좌절감을 느끼며 때때로 버려진 물건을 자신의 쓰레기통에 넣고 연석으로 운반한다고 말했습니다. “걱정하는 시민이 전화를 걸면 일을 처리하는 데 왜 2~3주가 걸리나요?” 테일러가 말했다.

불법 투기가 많은 로스앤젤레스 ��역을 괴롭히고 있습니다. 시에서 가장 더러운 동네의 순위를 발표하지는 나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 다시 보기 않지만 Watts는 반세기 이상 동안 쓰레기 핫스팟으로 알려졌지만 시에서는 여전히 문제를 해결하지 못했습니다. 역병은 부동산 가치를 떨어뜨리고 동네의 압도적으로 많은 흑인과 라틴계 주민들을 화나게 합니다. 시의 Clean Streets Index는 Watts에 최악의 등급인 "깨끗하지 않음"을 부여합니다. 시 데이터는 또한 Watts가 2016년 이후 더 더러워졌다는 것을 보여주며, 1960년대로 거슬러 올라가는 뉴스 기사는 불법 투기된 쓰레기에 대한 주민들의 불만과 도시의 청소 실패에 대해 자세히 설명합니다. 30년 전 Watts 거주자는 The Times에 "내 아이들에게 위험합니다."라고 말했습니다. "우리는 이것이 이것보다 더 나을 수 있다는 것을 압니다." 익명을 요구한 시 쓰레기 수거차 운영자는 왓츠가 불법 투기장으로 악명 높다고 말했다. "내가 오늘 그것을 나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 다시 보기 집어들고 [] 내일 돌아오면 두 배 더 많을 수 있는데 솔직히 그 이상을 하고 싶은 사람이 어디 있겠습니까?"

LA 위생환경국은 거듭된 인터뷰 요청을 거절했지만 “불법 투기 문제를 잘 알고 있다”고 성명을 통해 밝혔다. 성명서는 서비스 요청의 98%가 매주 쓰레기 수거일에 처리된다고 밝혔으며 이는 공개적으로 사용 가능한 데이터로 뒷받침되는 통계입니다. LA Sanitation은 불법 투기를 청소하기 위해 시 전역에서 더 많은 직원을 고용하고 있으며 "물질과 쓰레기의 불법 투기가 지속적으로 발생하는 고질적인 지역을 사전에 식별하고 해결"하는 전문 인력을 만들었다고 말했습니다. 해당 지역에 Watts가 포함될 것인지 여부는 밝히�� 않았으며 해당 승무원이 실제로 어떻게 일할 것인지에 대한 설명도 거부했습니다. 이 모든 것이 Watts 주민들을 미친 듯이 무력하게 만듭니다. 시는 문제가 심각하다는 것을 알고 조치를 취하고 있다고 말하지만 쓰레기는 보도, 골목, 거리로 계속 쏟아져 나옵니다. 그 결과 많은 주민들이 주변에서 볼 수 있는 쓰레기에 무감각해 졌다고 Joe Buscaino 전 시의원 밑에서 Watts의 나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 다시 보기 현장 부국장을 지냈고 현재는 지역 비영리 자전거 클럽을 운영하고 있는 John Jones가 말했습니다. Jones는 시의회에서 일할 때 "311에 전화하십시오."라는 알림으로 커뮤니티 회의를 시작했습니다. 그러나 일부 주민들은 “아무 일도 일어나지 않는 것에 지쳐서” 그냥 포기할 것이라고 그는 말했다.

'그들은 그것을 버릴 수 있다는 것을 알고 있습니다' 불법 투기는 Watts에서 진행 중인 문제였습니다. 쓰레기 및 기타 쓰레기의 불법 투기는 수십 년 동안 Watts에서 계속되는 문제였습니다.(Gary Coronado) 새로 선출된 시의원 Tim McOsker의 Watts 지구 부국장인 George Magallanes는 여러 가지 이유로 Watts에 쓰레기가 나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 다시 보기 쌓인다고 말했습니다.

종종 번호판이 제거된 대형 트럭이 한밤중에 Watts로 들어와 법적 폐기 비용을 지불하지 않기 위해 짐을 버립니다. Magallanes는 덧붙였습니다. ” Watts는 또한 인구 밀도가 높으며 세입자가 임대 주택에 밀집되어 쓰레기통이 담을 수 있는 것보다 더 많은 쓰레기를 생성한다고 그는 말했습니다. 그리고 퇴거는 Watts와 같은 유색 인종 커뮤니티에서 더 자주 발생하며, 이주한 세입자는 종종 가정 용품을 연석에 버립니다. 와츠 중심부를 관통하는 유니언 퍼시픽 철로가 불법 투기를 끌어들이는 저항할 수 없는 매력이 있음이 입증되었습니다. Magallanes는 철로 옆에 버려진 캐비닛, 선풍기, 화이트보드 옆에 서 있었고 선로 건너편에는 부서진 화장실을 포함한 또 다른 쓰레기 더미가 있었습니다. "이것은 아무것도 아니다"라고 그는 말했다. 시와 유니온 퍼시픽은 누가 트랙을 청소해야 하는지에 대한 몇 년 동안의 관료적 싸움에 휘말려 주민들이 불만을 제기할 명확한 대상이 없게 되었습니다. 철도는 Watts를 통과하는 대부분의 트랙 우선권에 대한 관할권을 가지고 있으며 지역을 깨끗하게 유지하기 위해 노력하는 나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 다시 보기 동안 회사는 The Times에 가구 및 기타 큰 품목을 픽업하는 것과 같은 작업을 위해 LA Sanitation과 협력해야 한다고 말했습니다. .

쓰레기는 또한 화재의 위험이 있습니다. 2016년에 Watkins의 건물 중 하나 옆에서 쓰레기 더미가 화염에 휩싸여 막대한 재산 피해를 입혔습니다. 부동산 중개인 Rene Mexia는 불법 투기가 Watts의 재산 가치를 떨어뜨린다고 말했습니다. Mexia는 "나는 누군가를 만나기 위해 밖에 서 있는 부동산 투어를 설정했고 그들은 단지 외모 때문에 거의 U턴을 합니다"라고 말했습니다. 그런 다음 심리적 피해가 있습니다. Watts Neighborhood Council의 Phillip Lester는 "아이들은 [쓰레기통]을 마치 정상인 것처럼 지나칩니다."라고 말했습니다. 그는 "무의식의 심리적 고통"이라며 "사람을 덜 느끼게 만든다"고 말했다. The Times의 2015년 분석에 따르면 Watts와 같은 저소득 지역 주민들은 부유한 L.A. 우편번호 지역보다 더 느리고 열악한 거리 청소 서비스를 받았습니다. Watts에서 주민들은 도시의 부유한 거주지에서는 거의 생각할 수 없는 일을 합니다. 자원하여 거리를 걷고 쓰레기를 줍는 나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 토렌트 것입니다. 정기적인 쓰레기 수거를 이끄는 레스터는 “여기서 자신을 돌보지 않는다면 그런 일�� 일어나지 않는 것”이라고 말했다.

쓰레기로 작품 만들기 로스앤젤레스 무역 기술 대학(Los Angeles Trade-Technical College)의 건축학 교수인 마르셀라 올리바(Marcela Oliva)는 철로 근처 정원에서 무릎을 꿇고 두 아이가 파이프, 깨진 유리, 형형색색의 플라스틱 조각, 기타 쓰레기 조각을 수거한 다음 등에 정렬하는 것을 지켜보았습니다. 타일의. "그들은 예술을 창조하기 위해 쓰레기를 사용하고 있습니다."라고 Oliva는 말했습니다. Oliva와 대부분 Watts에서 자란 그녀의 Trade-Tech 학생들은 최근 Watts 기차 선로를 따라 3마일의 "자연 산책" 제안을 개발했습니다. 제안된 프로젝트는 그늘을 위한 나무, 예술적인 벤치와 캐노피, 식량 재배를 위한 수직 격자, 그리고 불법 투기꾼을 포착하기 위한 카메라가 장착된 태양열 조명을 설치합니다. Oliva는 또한 지역 예술가들이 벽화로 장식할 수 있는 Watts에 더 많은 쓰레기 수거통을 가져오기 위해 노력하고 있습니다. “쓰레기통도 나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 다시 보기 아름다울 수 있어요.” 올리바가 말했다. 100년 전 Sabato Rodia라는 이탈리아 타일 세공인은 철로를 따라 걸으며 철근, 소다수 병, 깨진 도자기를 수집했습니다. 재즈의 전설인 와츠에 거주하는 찰스 밍거스(Charles Mingus)는 자서전에서 이렇게 썼습니다. Rodia의 프로젝트는 유명한 Watts Towers가 되었습니다. 1960년대에 Watts에 기반을 둔 예술가 Noah Purifoy는 전 세계 박물관에서 작품을 전시했으며 이웃 주변에서 회수한 재료로 시각 예술과 조각을 나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 다시 보기 만들었습니다. "Watts에서 [쓰레기]는 매우 쉽게 접근할 수 있었습니다."라고 그는 회상했습니다. “쓰레기의 날은 사람들이 쓰레기를 버리는 날인데, 종종 수거되지 않아 몇 주나쁜 엄마 5회 5화 무료 보기 동안 그 자리에 있었습니다. 어떤 곳에서는 픽업이 전혀 없었습니다.”

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bballinspiration · 4 years ago

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chey_dawg

I should’ve put you somewhere where no one could find you🤩

#Cheyenne McKinnie #@chey_dawg #Hooper #Lady Beavers #Los Angeles Trade - Technical College #Tech Beavers #WCW #WBW #Beautiful Ballers #WNBA

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sonyachristian · 8 months ago

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Hello Spring 2024!

View On WordPress

#CACCsOurTimeisNow #NuestroTiempoEsAhora #OurTimeisNow #Bakersfield College #California Community College Chancellor #citrus college #East Los Angeles College #El Camino College #Fresno City College #Lake Tahoe Community College #Los Angeles Trade-Tech College #Nuestro Tiempo Es Ahora #Our time is now #Riverside Community College District #Sonya Christian #West Hills College Coalinga

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ohyeahpop · 3 years ago

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I posted 646 times in 2021

534 posts created (83%)

112 posts reblogged (17%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.2 posts.

I added 2,132 tags in 2021

#photography - 499 posts

#portrait - 254 posts

#fashion photography - 212 posts

#fashion - 191 posts

#editorial - 183 posts

#art photography - 177 posts

#pop culture - 163 posts

#beauty - 156 posts

#pop icon - 155 posts

#1990s - 142 posts

Longest Tag: 30 characters

#los angeles trade tech college

My Top Posts in 2021

Girl Power, 1996 - Ph. Rankin

4528 notes • Posted 2021-04-19 23:45:26 GMT

Jacques d'Amboise Playing with His Children, Seattle, Washington, 1962 - Ph. John Dominis

4711 notes • Posted 2021-02-12 23:44:58 GMT

Madonna in Gianfranco Ferré Jeweled Bodice for Vogue Italia, 1991 - Ph. Steven Meisel

5298 notes • Posted 2021-01-01 21:02:01 GMT

Marilyn Monroe with her Dog, Hugo, for Look Magazine, Amagansett, Long Island, circa 1957 - Ph. Sam Shaw

5541 notes • Posted 2021-02-05 01:17:32 GMT

See the full post

9057 notes • Posted 2021-01-08 00:11:25 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #ohyeahpop #madonna #queen of pop #photography #iconic

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pro-birth · 3 years ago

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To male software developers, the story of Lena [the playboy model whose spread was part of a project to pixelate photographs] has generally been seen as an amusing historical footnote. To their female peers, it’s just alienating. “I remember thinking, What are they giggling about?” recalls Deanna Needell, now a mathematics professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. She first encountered Lena in a computer science class in college and quickly discovered that the model in the original photo was in fact fully nude. “It made me realize, Oh, I am the only woman. I am different,” Needell says. “It made gender an issue for me where it wasn’t before.”

Needell, like many other women (and some men), questioned the use of a Playboy centerfold, but they were mostly ignored. In the mid-1990s, in response to requests from readers to ban Lena from the pages of a trade journal, David Munson, the magazine’s former editor, wrote an editorial encouraging engineers to consider using other images but argued against an outright ban on the grounds that many engineers did not find the use of Lena degrading. The former president of an imaging trade group, Jeff Seideman, campaigned to keep Lena in circulation, arguing that, far from being sexist, the image memorialized one of the most important events in the history of electronic imaging. “When you use a picture like that for so long, it’s not a person anymore; it’s just pixels,” Seideman told the Atlantic in 2016, unwittingly highlighting the sexism that Needell and other critics had tried to point out.

“We didn’t even think about those things at all when we were doing this,” Pratt says. “It was not sexist.” After all, he continues, no one could have been offended because there were no women in the classroom at the time. And thus began a half-century’s worth of buck-passing in which powerful men in the tech industry defended or ignored the exclusion of women on the grounds that they were already excluded.

There is a lot more to this history than what I shared here, definitely worth the read.

#sexism #systemic sexism #STEM #women in STEM #silicon valley #women's history

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inthedarktrees · 8 years ago

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Anita Ekberg poses for students at Los Angeles State Trade Tech College, 1955

Gray, Los Angeles Examiner | via USC Digital Library

#1950s #anita ekberg #vintage #los angeles state trade tech college #los angeles examiner #models #photography #black and white #edit #lr #los angeles #old los angeles #exm-n-11407-013~6

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yepic · 4 years ago

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Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (/tʃɪˈpoʊtleɪ/, chih-POHT-lay),[7] often known simply as Chipotle, is an American chain of fast casual restaurants in the United States, United Kingdom,[8] Canada,[9][10] Germany,[11] and France,[12] specializing in tacos and Mission burritos.[13][14] Its name derives from chipotle, the Nahuatl name for a smoked and dried jalapeño chili pepper.[15] The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CMG.[16]

Chipotle is one of the first chains of fast casual dining establishments.[17] Competitors in the fast-casual Mexican market include Qdoba Mexican Grill, Moe's Southwest Grill, Rubio's Coastal Grill, and Baja Fresh.[18] Founded by Steve Ells on July 13, 1993, Chipotle had 16 restaurants (all in Colorado) when McDonald's Corporation became a major investor in 1998. By the time McDonald's fully divested itself from Chipotle in 2006,[19] the chain had grown to over 500 locations. With more than 2,000 locations, Chipotle had a net income of US$475.6 million and a staff of more than 45,000 employees in 2015.[3]

In May 2018, Chipotle announced the relocation of their corporate headquarters to Newport Beach, California, in Southern California, ending their relationship with Denver after 25 years. Founder Steve Ells attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Afterward, he became a line cook for Jeremiah Tower at Stars in San Francisco.[20] There, Ells observed the popularity of the taquerías and San Francisco burritos in the Mission District. In 1993, Ells took what he learned in San Francisco[21] and opened the first Chipotle Mexican Grill in Denver, Colorado, in a former Dolly Madison Ice Cream store at 1644 East Evans Avenue,[22] near the University of Denver campus, using an $85,000 loan from his father.[19] Ells and his father calculated that the store would need to sell 107 burritos per day to be profitable. After one month, the original restaurant was selling over 1,000 burritos a day.[16] The second store opened in 1995 using Chipotle's cash flow, and the third was opened using an SBA loan. To fund more growth, Ells' father invested $1.5 million. Afterwards, Ells created a board of directors and business plan, raising an additional $1.8 million for the company.[23] Ells had originally planned to use funds from the first Chipotle to open a fine-dining restaurant, but instead focused on Chipotle Mexican Grill when the restaurants saw success.[24][25]

In 1998, the first restaurant outside of Colorado opened in Kansas City, Missouri.[26] The company opened its first location in Minnesota by opening near the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis in March 1999.[27]

In 1998, McDonald's made an initial minority investment in the company. By 2001, the company had grown to be Chipotle's largest investor.[19] The investment from McDonald's allowed the firm to quickly expand, from 16 restaurants in 1998 to over 500 by 2005.[28] On January 26, 2006, Chipotle made its initial public offering (IPO) after increasing the share price twice due to high pre-IPO demand. In its first day as a public company, the stock rose exactly 100%, resulting in the best U.S.-based IPO in six years, and the second-best IPO for a restaurant after Boston Market. The money from the offering was then used to fund new store growth.[29]

In March 2005, Monty Moran was appointed president and chief operating officer of Chipotle while Ells remained chairman and CEO.[30]

In October 2006, McDonald's fully divested from Chipotle.[31] This was part of a larger initiative for McDonald's to divest all of its non-core business restaurants — Chipotle, Donatos Pizza, and Boston Market — so that it could focus on the main McDonald's chain.[32] McDonald's had invested approximately $360 million into Chipotle, and took out $1.5 billion.[23] McDonald's had attempted to get Chipotle to add drive-through windows and a breakfast menu, which Ells resisted.[33][34] In 2008, Chipotle opened its first location outside of the United States in Toronto.[10]

In January 2009, president and chief operating officer Monty Moran was promoted to co-CEO, a position that he would share with Ells, while Moran retained his president position.[35]

In a list of fastest-growing restaurant chains in 2009, Chipotle was ranked eighth, based on increases in U.S. sales over the past year,[36] and in 2010 Chipotle was ranked third.[37] Consumer Reports ranked Chipotle as the best Mexican fast-food chain in 2011.[38] The company serves approximately 750,000 customers per day.[39]

In December 2010, Chipotle hired chef Nate Appleman to develop new cuisine. Appleman has won Rising Star Chef from the James Beard Foundation, was named "Best New Chef" by the Food & Wine magazine, and competed on The Next Iron Chef.[40]

In 2010, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) audited Chipotle's Minneapolis restaurants, and found that some employees had been hired using fraudulent documents. In December, Chipotle fired 450 employees from its Minneapolis restaurants as a result of the audit, resulting in protests by local groups.[41][42] In February 2011, ICE expanded the audit to include 60 restaurants in Virginia and Washington, D.C.[43] which resulted in 40 workers being fired. In April 2011, the criminal division of the attorney general's office in Washington, D.C., joined the case, and ICE agents began interviewing employees at 20 to 25 restaurants in other locations, such as Los Angeles and Atlanta.[44] In response to the government investigations, Chipotle hired former director of ICE Julie Myers Wood and high-profile attorneys Robert Luskin and Gregory B. Craig.[45]

In December 2016, Chipotle announced that co-CEO Monty Moran has stepped down from his role effective immediately with Ells becoming the sole CEO.[46][47] Eleven months later, Ells announced in November 2017 that he would be stepping down as CEO.[48]

In December 2017, Chipotle announced it signed a 15-year lease and in late 2018 will move around 450 corporate employees – currently housed in multiple buildings around downtown Denver – into the new 1144 Fifteenth Tower and occupy around 126,000 square feet or 5 floors of the 40-story tower.[citation needed]

In February 2018, Chipotle announced that Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol would replace Ells as CEO starting on March 5 while Ellis would retain his chairman position.[49] Many industry analysts praised Niccol's appointment saying that Chipotle "needed new blood."[50] Chipotle stock went up $30.27, or 12.04%, as a result of the announcement. However, other analysts criticized the announcement by saying that "the move goes against everything the burrito chain stands for."[51]

In May 2018, Chipotle announced that it would relocate headquarters from Denver to Newport Beach, California in Southern California. Corporate functions handled in their Denver and New York offices would move to Newport Beach or to an existing office in Columbus, Ohio. This move would impact 400 workers, some being offered relocation and retention packages.[52]

In June 2018, the company announced the closing of 65 under-performing restaurants.[53][54]

Other restaurant expansion[edit]

In 2011, Steve Ells was a judge for the TV show America's Next Great Restaurant and investor of ANGR Holdings, the company that will be running the winning concept's restaurants. Chipotle has agreed to purchase Ells' investment in ANGR at his cost, provide support for ANGR operations, and invest a total of $2.3 million in cash contributions.[55] The winning concept, Soul Daddy, was quickly closed after operating for less than 5 weeks.[56]

In September 2011, Chipotle opened an Asian fast-casual concept restaurant named ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen in Washington, D.C.[57] The company has said the new restaurant "would follow the Chipotle service format and its focus on 'food with integrity' in ingredients."[58] Chipotle's plan was to start with only one store, and see how the restaurant works out before expanding the concept.[59]

On December 18, 2013, the company revealed that it had opened its first fast-food pizza chain in Denver back in May 2013. According to Associated Press, Chipotle partnered with a local full-service restaurant called Pizzeria Locale to create a fast-food version of the eatery, keeping its name. The company plans to open at least two more pizzerias in the Denver area.[60]

In April 2014, Chipotle announced an increase in menu prices for the first time in nearly three years, due to increasing costs for steak, avocados, and cheese. The price increase was expected to be rolled out from the end of second quarter of 2014 through the end of the third quarter.[61] In late 2015, Chipotle expanded its mobile strategy through delivery partnerships with tech startups like Tapingo, a delivery service that targets college campuses.[62]

On July 29, 2016, the company announced the opening of its first Tasty Made burger restaurant in the fall. Chipotle was still dealing with the various virus outbreaks with additional marketing. The company was also reducing the number of new stores for the year from 235 to 220.[63]

The newer restaurant concepts did not perform as well as expected so that ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen and Tasty Made were respectively closed in March 2017[64] and February 2018[65] leaving only Pizzeria Locale operating besides the parent company.

International[edit]

According to an article in The Motley Fool, Chipotle had 17 locations outside of the United States by October 2014 with the majority in Canada, and the UK was in the process of opening more locations.[66] The rate of overseas expansion was slower than expected.[67] Many of the press reviewers thought that the food was overpriced for their area.[12][68]

As of 2018 there are 33 locations outside of the United States with 19 locations in Canada (Ottawa, Toronto, Markham, Vaughan, Mississauga, Oakville, Vancouver), 6 locations in The United Kingdom (London), 6 in France (Paris), and 2 in Germany (Frankfurt).[better source needed][3][69]

Canada[edit]

Chipotle Mexican Grill in Canada

In August 2008, Chipotle opened its first location outside of the United States in Toronto.[10] The second location in Toronto–and in all of Canada–was not opened until 2010.[67]

The first Canadian location outside of the Toronto area was opened in Vancouver in December 2012.[70] A second Vancouver-area location was opened in Burnaby in October 2014[71] followed by a third in Surrey in January 2016,[72] a fourth in Langley in October 2016,[73] and a fifth in West Vancouver in March 2018.[74]

The first location in the nation's capital of Ottawa was opened in February 2017 at the Rideau Centre.[75]

Chipotle rapidly expanded in the Greater Toronto area, and is still opening new locations.[citation needed] As of 2018, there are 11 locations in Toronto, 2 in Vaughan, 2 in Mississauga, 1 in Oakville, and 1 location in Markham.

United Kingdom[edit]

The second Chipotle Mexican Grill location in London, located on Baker Street

Chipotle expanded to Europe with the first European restaurant opening in May 2010 in London.[8][76][77] A second location opened in London in September 2011.[78] The following year, three additional locations were quickly opened in the London area.[79] After this growth spurt, the rate of further expansion in London slowed greatly with the sixth location appearing in 2013[80] and the seventh in June 2015.[81] Although Chipotle blames the slow growth in the United Kingdom on the British unfamiliarity with Mexican foods,[82] several locally owned burrito chains had opened locations across the United Kingdom during the same interval.[83]

France[edit]

The first location in France opened in Paris in May 2012.[12][84]

Expansion in France was much slower than that in the United Kingdom or Canada, with a second location in Paris opening in 2013[85] and a third location in 2014.[86] At 7,000 square feet, the restaurant at La Défense is, as of 2015, the largest Chipotle location in the world, while a typical Chipotle restaurant is usually between 2,200 and 2,500 square feet.[87] A fourth Parisian location was opened in Levallois-Perret in 2015[88] followed by a fifth[89] and a sixth[90] Parisian location in 2016, both in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Germany[edit]

The first location in Germany opened up in Frankfurt's Skyline Plaza shopping mall in August 2013.[11][68]

A second location opened in Frankfurt's MyZeil shopping mall in April 2019.[91]

Corporate management[edit]

Chipotle's team includes a residing corporate office of managers and its board of directors. Members of both teams are appointed to serve on committees: audit, compensation, and nominating and corporate governance.

The top management team consisted of the chief executive officer, Steve Ells; the chief financial officer, Jack R. Hartung; the chief marketing and development officer, Mark Crumpacker.[92] The current board of directors consists of: Ells, Patrick Flynn, Albert Baldocchi, Neil Flanzraich, Darlene Friedman, Stephen Gillet, Kimbal Musk and John Charlesworth.[93] On March 14, 2018, it was reported that Mark Crumpacker, who had previously been charged in a 2016 cocaine ring indictment, would be leaving the company.[94]

Ells serves as chairman of the company, and served as Chief executive officer until November 2017.[95][48] He has a 1.25% stake in the company.[96] The labor-market research firm Glassdoor reported that Ells earned $29 million in 2014, versus a median of $19,000 for Chipotle's workers, making the CEO-to-worker pay ratio 1522:1.[97]

On February 13, 2018, Chipotle announced that Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol would replace Ells as CEO starting on March 5 while Ells would retain his chairman position.[49]

On March 6, 2020, Ells resigned as chairman and left the board of directors, breaking his final ties to the company. At the same time, Niccol was appointed chairman and the size of the board was reduced from 10 to 7 directors.[98][99]

Operation and distribution[edit]

All of Chipotle's restaurants are company-owned, rather than franchised.[100] As of December 2012, 1430 restaurants have since opened throughout the United States and Canada, with locations in 43 states, Ontario, British Columbia, and the District of Columbia.[101][102]

The field team are the employees who work closely with but not directly within specific restaurants. The field support system includes apprentice team leaders (step up from restaurateurs), team leaders or area managers, team directors and regional directors (not atypical for them to oversee more than fifty locations).[103] Because Chipotle does not franchise, all restaurants are corporately owned. Thus, whenever Chipotle is in the process of launching a new location, the field team hires a new general manager and trains them at a current location so that they will be ready for the new location when it opens for business. The corporate office takes care of finding and funding new locations as well.[104]

Menu[edit]

A Chipotle restaurant in Brandon, Florida, having the typical service-line layout with menu above

Chipotle's menu consists of five items: burritos, bowls, tacos, quesadillas, and salads. The price of each item is based on the choice of chicken, pork carnitas, barbacoa, steak, carne asada, tofu-based "sofritas",[105][106] or vegetarian (with guacamole, which would be at an extra charge otherwise). Additional optional toppings are offered free of charge, including: rice, beans, four types of salsa, sour cream, cheese, and lettuce.[107][108]

Chipotle regular sized chips and queso with a side of sour cream.

When asked in 2007 about expanding the menu, Steve Ells said, "[I]t's important to keep the menu focused, because if you just do a few things, you can ensure that you do them better than anybody else."[109] Chipotle also offers a children's menu.[110][111] Most restaurants sell beer and margaritas in addition to soft drinks and fruit drinks.[112]

The majority of food is prepared in each restaurant. Some exceptions are the beans and carnitas, which are prepared at a central kitchen in Chicago, Illinois.[113] None of the restaurants have freezers, microwave ovens, or can openers.[114]

Chicken Burrito Bowl

The chain experimented with breakfast foods at two airports in the Washington (D.C.) metropolitan area but decided against expanding the menu in that direction.[115][116][117] Starting in 2009, selected restaurants had offered a pozole soup,[118][119][120] which has since been discontinued.

In June 2015, Chipotle began test marketing a pork and chicken chorizo-type sausage as a new protein option at selected locations in the Kansas City area.[121][122][123] Some food writers have expressed their health related concerns over the protein's relatively high sodium content since a 4-ounce serving contains 293 calories and 803 milligrams of sodium[124] while the American Heart Association’s recommended daily amount is less than 1,500 milligrams of sodium.[125] In contrast, the protein options with next highest sodium contents are Barbacoa with 530 milligrams and sofritas with 555 milligrams.[124] An earlier version on the Mexican sausage was tested in Denver and New York City in 2011,[126] but that test was terminated when that version of the sausage was perceived as looking too greasy.[127] Chorizo was discontinued in September 2017[128] but was returned to the menu in the following year for a limited time.[129]

In July 2020, Chipotle began test marketing a cauliflower rice option at 55 locations in Colorado and Wisconsin.[130]

Chipotle accepts fax orders, and in 2005 the company added the ability to order online from their website. For both online and fax orders, customers proceed to the front of the line to pay for pre-ordered food.[131] In 2009, Chipotle released an app for the iPhone that allows users to find nearby Chipotle locations, place an order, and prepay with a credit card.[132] In 2013, Chipotle released an Android app that allows users to locate nearby Chipotle locations, place an order, prepay with a credit or gift card, and access favorites and recent orders.[133][134]

Nutrition[edit]

In 2003, a Center for Science in the Public Interest report stated that Chipotle's burritos contain over 1,000 calories, which is nearly equivalent to two meals' worth of food.[135][136] MSNBC Health.com placed the burritos on their list of the "20 Worst Foods in America" because of their high caloric content and high sodium.[137] When a burrito with carnitas, rice, vegetables, cheese, guacamole, and salsa was compared with a typical Big Mac, the burrito had more fat, cholesterol, carbohydrates, and sodium than the Big Mac, but it also had more protein and fiber.[138] The restaurant has also received praise – Health.com included the restaurant in its list of the "Healthiest Fast Food Restaurants".[139]

Chipotle's vegetarian options include rice, black beans, fajita vegetables (onions and bell peppers), salsa, guacamole and cheese.[140] All items other than the meats, cheese, sour cream, and honey vinaigrette dressing are vegan.[140] As of late 2013, Chipotle developed a new cooking strategy for the pinto beans, eliminating the bacon and making them vegetarian and vegan-friendly.[141] The cheese is processed with vegetable-based rennet in order to be suitable for vegetarians.[140] In April 2010, Chipotle began testing a vegan "Garden Blend" option, which is a plant-based meat alternative marinated in chipotle adobo, at six locations in the U.S.[142][143] The flour tortillas used for the burritos and soft tacos are the only items that contain gluten.[140]

Food sourcing[edit]

In 1999, while looking for ways to improve the taste of the carnitas,[20] founder Steve Ells was prompted by an article written by Edward Behr to visit Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).[144] Ells found the CAFOs "horrific", and began sourcing from open-range pork suppliers. This caused an increase in both the price and the sales of the carnitas burritos.[76]

In 2001, Chipotle released a mission statement called Food With Integrity, which highlighted Chipotle's efforts to increase their use of naturally raised meat, organic produce, and dairy without added hormones.[7] Chipotle only uses the leg and thigh meat from its chickens; the breast meat is sold to Panera Bread.[145]

Customers at a Chipotle restaurant in Fredericksburg, Virginia

Ells has testified before the United States Congress in support of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, which aims to reduce the amount of antibiotics given to farm animals.[76][146]

Since 2006, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a Floridian farmworker organization, has protested Chipotle's refusal to sign a Fair Food agreement, which would commit the restaurant chain to pay a penny-per-pound premium on its Florida tomatoes to boost tomato harvesters' wages, and to only buy Florida tomatoes from growers who comply with the Fair Food Code of Conduct.[147] In 2009, the creators of the documentary film Food, Inc. (along with 31 other leaders in the sustainable food movement) signed an open letter of support for the CIW's campaign, stating that, "If Chipotle is sincere in its wishes to reform its supply chain, the time has come to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers as a true partner in the protection of farmworkers rights."[148] In September 2009, Chipotle announced that it would sidestep partnership with the CIW and instead work directly with East Coast Growers and Packers to increase wages for its tomato pickers.[149] Ells framed the dispute as a fundamental issue of control, stating that, "the CIW wants us to sign a contract that would let them control Chipotle's decisions regarding food in the future."[150] In October 2012, Chipotle signed an agreement with the CIW and became the 11th company to join the organization's Fair Food Program.[151]

In January 2015, Chipotle pulled carnitas from its menu in a third of its restaurants; company officials cited animal welfare problems at one of the suppliers, found during a regular audit, as the reason.[152] Subsequently, a false rumor spread online claiming it was done to appease Muslims who consider pork to be unclean, leading to some protests on social media.[153] The company still uses antibiotic-free and hormone-free steak in its restaurants, despite being briefly forced to "serve beef that is not naturally raised" during the summer of 2013, posting an in-store notice each time that occurred.[154] Roberto Ferdman of The Washington Post opined that Chipotle's stated mission to sell "food with integrity" may be "untenable" if meat producers continue to breach Chipotle's ethical standards.[152]

Also in 2015, Chipotle stopped using genetically modified corn and soy beans in their foods, claiming to be the first nationwide restaurant to cook completely GMO free.[155] This was done in response to increasing consumer demand for GMO free products.

Food safety[edit]

External video "How Chipotle made hundreds of people barf". Vox report dated January 6, 2016, explaining Chipotle's "food safety crisis".

Since 2008, a former Kansas State University food safety professor has accused Chipotle of confusing the public by using such terms as "naturally raised meats", "organic ingredients", and "locally sourced" and trying to equate those terms with food safety.[156] In rebuttal, a Chipotle spokesperson told The Daily Beast that "all of our practices have always been very much within industry norms. It's important to note that restaurant practices are regulated by health codes, and restaurants are routinely inspected by health officials. Everything we have done in our supply chain and in our restaurants has been within industry norms."[156] Yet, FiveThirtyEight pointed out that the 2015 norovirus outbreak appears to be unusual[157] and others are criticizing their food sourcing or handling practices.[158][159] MarketWatch wrote that the result of all of these outbreaks will be to force Chipotle to obtain their produce from larger corporate farms that can afford the more extensive microbial food-safety testing programs and to process vegetables at centralized locations instead of at the individual stores, both of which are industry-standard practices that the company had previously criticized.[160] The New York Times implied that the company's insistence on maintaining its long standing rhetoric about "food integrity" seemed to be quite opposite with the realities of recent current events and made it appear that the management was just ignoring their current problems.[161] It also has been pointed out that Chipotle's current record-keeping system is actually hindering the health authorities' investigation in locating the sources of the various infections.[161]

A writer for the magazine Popular Science pointed out that Chipotle had publicly acknowledged that they "may be at a higher risk for food-borne illness outbreaks than some competitors due to our use of fresh produce and meats rather than frozen, and our reliance on employees cooking with traditional methods rather than automation."[162][163][164] Henry I. Miller, a medical researcher and columnist and the founding director of the FDA's Office of Biotechnology, asked: "One wonders whether Chipotle’s "traditional methods" include employees' neglecting to wash their hands before preparing food, which is how norovirus is usually spread. And the fresh versus frozen dichotomy is nothing more than a snow-job. Freezing E. coli-contaminated food does not kill the pathogens; it preserves them."[165] Describing food poisoning outbreaks as "something of a Chipotle trademark; the recent ones are the fourth and fifth this year [2015], one of which was not disclosed to the public", Miller notes that "a particularly worrisome aspect of the company's serial deficiencies is that there have been at least three unrelated pathogens in the outbreaks – Salmonella and E. coli bacteria and norovirus. In other words, there has been more than a single glitch; suppliers and employees have found a variety of ways to contaminate what Chipotle cavalierly sells (at premium prices) to its customers."[165]

A writer for the North Carolina newspaper The News & Observer called Chipotle's "food with integrity" a "lucrative farce" and a "marketing ploy" by pointing out that organic food is "often grown with manure (an 'all-natural' fertilizer), which can certainly increase the risks of accidentally spreading fecal bacteria like E. coli."[166]

In December 2015, Seattle health officials closed a Seattle-area Chipotle for a day after it had repeatedly had small numbers of violations during recent consecutive inspections that previously would not have generated a closure order.[167] On December 10, 2015, CEO Steve Ells released a press statement apologizing for 2015 outbreaks and promised changes to minimize the risks of future outbreaks.[168]

March 2008 hepatitis outbreak[edit]

In March and April 2008, the Community Epidemiology Branch of the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency traced a hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego County to a single Chipotle restaurant located in La Mesa, California in which 22 customers were infected with the virus.[169][170]

April 2008 norovirus outbreak[edit]

In 2008, Chipotle was implicated in a norovirus outbreak in Kent, Ohio, where over 400 people became ill after eating at a Chipotle restaurant.[171] Officials at the Ohio Department of Health said that the outbreak was caused by Norovirus Genotype G2.[172] Many of the victims were students at Kent State University.[173] The initial source of the outbreak was never found.

February 2009 Campylobacter jejuni outbreak[edit]

In 2009, an investigation by the Minnesota Department of Health traced an outbreak of campylobacteriosis to a Chipotle Mexican Grill in Apple Valley, Minnesota.[174][175][176] The investigation found that chicken was sometimes served undercooked by the restaurant and determined that lettuce which had been cross-contaminated with raw or undercooked chicken was the vector for the outbreak.[177][178][third-party source needed]

July 2015 E. coli outbreak[edit]

In early November 2015, The Oregonian reported that there was a little-known E. coli outbreak that had occurred earlier in July in which five people were infected with the O157:H7 strain of E. coli. The outbreak was traced to a single Chipotle location in Seattle and that the incident was not publicized at that time.[179][180] Seattle public health officials defended their actions at that time by saying that the outbreak was over by the time they made an association with Chipotle. Health officials were unable to trace the source of the July outbreak and said that the cause of the July outbreak is unrelated to the October/November outbreak.[179]

August 2015 norovirus outbreak[edit]

Another norovirus outbreak was confirmed to have occurred in August 2015 at a Simi Valley, California location in which 80 customers and 18 employees reported becoming ill.[181][182] Ventura County health inspectors found various health violations during two inspections following the outbreak report.[183] Despite those violations, the county health officials did not close the restaurant and allowed it to continue to operate.[181] In a January 2016 article, The New York Times reported that the number of victims involved in the Simi Valley norovirus outbreak was actually 207, twice the number that was reported earlier.[184]

In an unusual move, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California in conjunction with the Food and Drug Administration has gotten a federal grand jury to issue a subpoena in January 2016 as part of a criminal investigation seeking documents and information from Chipotle concerning the Simi Valley norovirus outbreak.[184][185] As of January 2016, it is too early to tell which organization is the actual target of the investigation. In most cases involving norovirus outbreaks that involved a single location, state and/or local authorities are the usual jurisdiction responsible in the investigation and prosecution of those type of cases. However, Ventura County officials had been criticized for their handling of parts of their investigation, and for allowing the restaurant to continue to operate after finding health violations during consecutive inspections.

Less than two weeks later, a federal class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California claiming that Chipotle knowingly allowed an ill kitchen manager to work for two days before sending that person home. Then, the restaurant actively deep-cleaned the restaurant to remove all traces of contamination prior to notifying the Ventura County Environmental Health Division of the existing outbreak, hindering their investigation. The lawsuit also claimed that the number of known victims was as high as 234 and estimates that the number of meals that the infected employee may have come in contact with could be as high 3,000.[186][187][188]

August 2015 Salmonella outbreak[edit]

At almost the same time as the Simi Valley norovirus outbreak, Minnesota health officials confirmed a Salmonella outbreak that affected 17 Minneapolis-area Chipotle restaurants in mid-August 2015. The source of the outbreak was traced back to contaminated tomatoes that were grown in Mexico.[189][190] The Minnesota Department of Health reported that samples from 45 victims were tested and found that their illness was caused by the Salmonella Newport bacterium as determined by DNA profiling.[191] Later, the state officials reported that the total of persons who became infected was increased to 64 and the number Chipotle locations in which they had acquired the bacterium was increased to 22, all located within the state of Minnesota.[192]

October 2015 E. coli outbreak[edit]

In October 2015, at least 22 people were reported to have gotten sick after eating at several different Chipotle locations in the states of Washington and Oregon. At that time, an epidemiologist for the Washington State Department of Health said the culprit appeared to be a Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli bacterium, but they were still waiting the outcome of several laboratory tests before they could give a definitive result.[193][194][195] As a precaution, Chipotle had closed 43 stores in Washington and Oregon pending the results and recommendations of the involved health authorities. On November 5, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had reported that the number of persons reported ill had risen to 40 known cases and that the bacteria samples taken from 7 infected persons in Washington and 3 persons in Oregon states were confirmed to be infected by the same strain of E. coli, the Shiga toxin-producing STEC O26 strain, as determined by DNA profiling.[196] At least 12 persons required hospitalization, but no fatalities. As of November 2015, Health authorities were still trying to trace the exact source of the bacterial contamination, but suspected fresh produce.[197]

On November 12, the CDC increased the number of known cases to 50, the number of persons requiring hospitalization to 14, and the number of DNA fingerprint confirmations to 33.[198] Through a match via Pulsenet, the DNA fingerprint also matched a recent case in Minnesota, but the ill person did not eat at Chipotle. The source of the bacteria infection still had not yet been determined at the time of the report released by the CDC and the CDC is trying to use the more definitive, but more time-consuming whole genome sequencing procedure to see if they are able to determine the relationships between all of the STEC O26 cases. In the meantime, Chipotle reopened the closed restaurants on November 11 after disposing all of the food within the closed facilities and deep cleaning those facilities.[199]

On November 20, the CDC reported that the number of STEC O26 cases, as determined by DNA fingerprinting, had increased to 45 with 16 persons requiring hospitalization and the total number states being affected had increased to six.[200] Besides Oregon and Washington, new cases were reported in the states of Minnesota, California, New York, and Ohio.[201] 43 out of 45 of the affected individuals had reported that they had eaten at a Chipotle in the week before they had become sick.

On December 4, the CDC reported that the number of STEC O26 cases, as determined by DNA fingerprinting, had increased to 52 with 20 persons requiring hospitalization and the total number states being affected had increased to nine.[202] New cases were reported in the states of California (1), Illinois (1), Maryland (1), Ohio (2), Pennsylvania (1), and Washington (1).[203]

The price of shares for Chipotle stock dropped a further 12% immediately after the CDC had issued their update on November 20.[204] Share prices had been dropping since the initial announcement of the E. coli outbreak in late October with investors unsure if the drop in share prices just a temporary aberration and that Chipotle management is handling the incident as well as they could. Chipotle has since hired a consultant to improve their food safety program and have their program reviewed by both the CDC and FDA.[205]

On February 1, 2016, the CDC official closed their investigations on the larger E. coli that started in Pacific Northwest in October 2015 and also the smaller outbreak that started in Kansas and Oklahoma in November since no new cases were reported since December 1.[206] In their final report, the CDC stated that 55 persons in 11 states were infected with the same strain of STEC O26 during the major outbreak with 21 of those persons requiring hospitalization. The five persons infected in the later outbreak were made ill by a genetically different strain of STEC O26. The CDC also reported that federal and local health and food safety authorities were unable to detect traces of the microorganisms in any of the food samples taken from the suspected restaurants or from their supply chain. The CDC, FDA, and the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service were unable to determine a point source that was in common in the meals that were consumed by all the victims since some of the restaurants were located far apart and had obtained some of their ingredients from different suppliers while other consumers of the suspected suppliers were not affected.

November 2015 E. coli cases[edit]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on December 21 that five more people became ill after eating at two Chipotle restaurants located in Kansas and Oklahoma in late November. Preliminary DNA fingerprinting results appear to indicated that the newer cases were caused by a different strain of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O26. Scientists are waiting for the results of the more definitive whole genome sequencing analyses to determine if the organisms responsible for this outbreak are genetically related to the E. coli that are responsible for causing the outbreak that had started in Oregon and Washington in late October and thus an extension of that outbreak. The agency has not yet determined which food is responsible for the outbreak.[207] The Food and Drug Administration reported that they are trying to determine how the bacteria in these cases, along with the earlier Oregon, Washington, and other multi-state cases, might have been propagated through the food supply chain.[208]

December 2015 norovirus outbreak[edit]

The closed restaurant on December 16, 2015

In December 2015, eighty students at Boston College, including members of the men's basketball team, were sickened after eating at a single Chipotle restaurant. Affected students had been tested for both E. coli and norovirus in order to determine the cause of the illnesses.[209][210] Although it would take as long as two days before the results of more definitive tests became known, public health investigators reported that preliminary tests pointed to the presence of norovirus.[211] The health inspectors for the City of Boston had since closed this particular location on December 7 for a number of health violations that included maintaining meats at a too low of a temperature on the serving line and for allowing a sick employee to work at the time of the inspection.[212]

On December 10, officials from the Boston Public Health Commission reported that tests had identified a single strain of norovirus that is responsible for this particular outbreak.[213] Boston Globe reported on December 10 that 141 persons were reported to have gotten ill and that some of the newer victims had not visited Chipotle before contracting the virus[214] and most likely became infected by being in close proximity to someone who had gotten ill at Chipotle, such as a roommate or dorm-mate.[213] Boston authorities traced the cause of the outbreak to a sick employee who was allowed to work on the day of the outbreak. Chipotle has since fired the employee and also the manager who knowingly allowed the ill worker to complete his shift instead of following health codes.[215]

Consequences of the multiple incidents in 2015[edit]

On February 8, 2016, Chipotle closed all of its eateries nationwide for a few hours during the morning for an all-staff meeting on food safety.[216] The company hired a new head of food safety, who instituted changes including having all employees wash hands every half hour, having two employees verify that produce like onions, jalapeños and avocados have been immersed in hot water for five seconds to kill germs on their exteriors, and using Pascalization to pre-treat food ingredients.[217]

Since the series of food-poisoning outbreaks in 2015 lowered trust in the product, Chipotle has tried to lure back its customers with free food and heavier advertising. Same-store sales increased 17.8% percent in the first quarter of 2017.[218]

July 2017 norovirus outbreak[edit]

Despite corrective actions, the company faced another setback in implementing their safe food policies in July 2017. A norovirus outbreak is being investigated in Virginia. More than 130 people reported having norovirus-like symptoms and two individuals had tested positive for the virus after eating at a Chipotle restaurant in Sterling, Virginia. The Loudoun County Health Department confirmed the illnesses from July 13–16, 2017. Shares of Chipotle's stock stumbled more than 10% on this news[219][220] and also the news that customers had posted videos of mice skittering through a Chipotle restaurant in Dallas just a few days before the norovirus incident was reported.[221][222] On July 25, several news agencies reported that Chipotle officials confirmed that the "recent norovirus outbreak in Virginia was the result of lax sick policy enforcement by store managers" and that the company believed that an employee was the cause of the outbreak.[223][222]

July 2018 Clostridium perfringens outbreak[edit]

In late July 2018, Ohio public health officials launched an investigation after receiving 368 complaints from customers after they had eaten at a Powell, Ohio, location.[224] By mid-August, the U.S. Ce

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