Update for KFC Workers: Agreement reached on KFC Rest Breaks Class Action
KFC and its franchisees have agreed to pay around $28.8 million to settle claims brought by the SDA and other applicants in the KFC Rest Breaks Class Action.
If you worked at a KFC store between October 2017 – December 2023 you may be eligible for compensation. Register online by 26 June 2026 to ensure you don’t miss out.
Registering online takes less than 2 minutes and is confidential – details of your claim will not be provided to KFC.
You will be eligible if you:
- worked at a KFC store between 25 October 2017 – 22 December 2023;
- worked shifts of 4 hours or more; and
- did not receive 10 minute rest breaks on all shifts of 4 hours or more.
The Court will decide whether to approve the settlement at a hearing in September 2026.
Please note that if you worked at a KFC store operated by Airport Retail Enterprises, there is a separate settlement. You do not need to register to claim your share of that settlement.
For more information, refer to the Court-ordered settlement notices and flyer via the links below.
KFC Breaks Class Action – Settlement Flyer
KFC Breaks Class Action – Notice
KFC Breaks Class Action – Airport Retail Enterprises Notice
What is the KFC Breaks Class Action?
This case was commenced in late 2023 by Gordon Legal and the SDA together with a number of current and former KFC workers. The case alleges that many KFC workers were not provided with the paid 10-minute rest breaks they were entitled to under their enterprise agreements or the Fast Food Industry Award.
Rest breaks are an important workplace entitlement. They exist to ensure workers have a short period during their shift to rest, recover, and work safely and effectively.
The SDA pursued the case to ensure that workers receive compensation where these entitlements were not provided, and to reinforce the importance of employers complying with workplace laws and respecting your entitlements.
The case covers workers who worked at a KFC restaurant at any time between October 2017 and December 2023 and who may not have received these paid rest breaks during qualifying shifts.
If you want to participate in the settlement, you must register.
If this affects you, you will be notified about how and when you must register. Keep an eye out for an email with this information, or contact the SDA if you have any questions. We will contact you again with further information when registration opens.
Workers must register in order to be eligible to receive compensation under the settlement scheme. If you do not register, you will not be entitled to a payment.
Cases like this are only possible because workers are union members and the SDA has the resources to investigate workplace issues, run complex litigation and hold employers accountable.
If you are not already an SDA member and work in retail or fast food, you can join here. Being a union member means you have access to advice, support and representation at work.
Your membership helps ensure the SDA can continue to enforce your rights and secure outcomes like this for workers across the industry.
We will be in contact again in the coming weeks with more information about the registration process and the next steps.
If you have any questions, you can email us at [email protected]
Have you worked at KFC in the last six years?
Have you failed to receive your correct break entitlements?
Current and former employees may be eligible for compensation.
SDA & Gordon Legal Wage Theft Action against KFC
The SDA has announced that it has instructed the class action law firm, Gordon Legal, to act its behalf in a wage theft Class Action against KFC.
The relationship between the SDA, the union for retail, warehousing, and fast-food workers, and Gordon Legal ensures that claims can be pursued on behalf of all potential class members in one proceeding against KFC and its franchisees.
The SDA has a long and proven history of advancing wages and working conditions of Australian workers in both the retail and fast-food industries.
“The claims that tens of thousands of workers have been underpaid by a company the size of KFC is disturbing and unacceptable. We owe it to our members and all workers in the fast food and retail industries to put an end to systemic wage theft for good” said SDA National Secretary, Gerard Dwyer.
The class action is expected to provide more than 80,000 workers across all of KFC’s Australian stores to recover lost wages as a result of their employer’s failure to provide them with rest breaks.
The class action alleges that over the past six years, KFC Corporate and its franchisee’s, who together employ over 40,000 people nationally, failed to provide all workers with rest breaks as required under the relevant Enterprise Agreement’s.
Gordon Legal has estimated that ten’s of thousands of current and former KFC team members will be eligible for compensation which may result in the total claims value being in the tens of millions of dollars.