Two Subway franchisees who owned several Subway restaurants in Northern California allegedly used illegal child workers in stores and committed several wage violations. Previous employees also claimed that the working conditions in the restaurants were dangerous, and they were intimated and threatened by the owners to stay silent. It is alleged that child workers were as young as 14 years old, and had to operate dangerous machinery, such as industrial ovens, industrial toasters, trash compactors, and cardboard balers. Tips and overtime pay were allegedly withheld from employees, and oftentimes their paychecks would bounce and they wouldn’t be paid. A federal judge ruled that the franchisees have to sell or close all the Subway locations, as well as pay over a million dollars in back wages and damages to store employees. The Subway franchisees have been in a previous lawsuit regarding income reporting violations and were convicted of income tax evasion for hiding the earnings from Subway stores.
See "A federal judge ruled that the owners of multiple Subway stores in California will have to sell or shut down all locations after alleged labor violations", Howard Yune, Napa Valley Register, October 3, 2023