2015 pregnancy discrimination lawsuit In 2015, the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), charged a Shipley Do-Nuts
franchisee for violating federal anti-discrimination laws when it forced an employee to take unpaid leave. The franchise owner/general manager prohibited the employee from working at the doughnut shop unless she provided documentation from a doctor that her pregnancy was not "high-risk". When the employee was unable to provide formal evidence of the doctor's release, she was fired, in violation of the
Pregnancy Discrimination Act, part of
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On 16 November 2015, a federal judge signed the consent decree that settled the suit which provided non-monetary relief.
2017 overtime lawsuit In April 2017, a lawsuit was filed against Shipley Do-Nuts contending that their employees were not getting overtime pay that they earned. The suit alleged that "All plaintiffs regularly worked over forty hours per week...Shipley's knew or reasonably should have known that plaintiffs worked in excess of forty hours per workweek." One employee, Juan Sanchez, claimed that he "put in 40–60 hours in a week with minimal breaks". However, he believed that Shipley Do-Nuts disregarded the overage and paid him for only 40 hours of work. The suit included claims that Shipley Do-Nuts did not maintain accurate records, failed to pay workers minimum wage, and did not pay overtime. Shipley Do-Nuts stated, "The claims by the former employees named in the lawsuit are unfounded, completely without merit and no more than a retaliation lawsuit against Shipley Do-Nuts and Lawrence Shipley III for their recent termination." ==Legacy==