7-Eleven franchise owners filed a lawsuit in New Jersey against the Slurpee purveyor, alleging that 7-Eleven bolsters its profits by misclassifying store operators as franchisees “when they are in fact employees.”
The complaint accuses 7-Eleven of employing practices to enable it to avoid paying costs like minimum and overtime wages along with medical, pension, and other employment-related benefits. “[7-Eleven] has taken aggressive actions to abuse contractual rights and diminish franchisees’ value in their own investment,” the suit alleges.
Seven & I Holdings, the parent company of 7-Eleven, has expanded its footprint to more than 50,000 stores.