Sweetgreen wage and hour record at a glance
Sweetgreen appears in 3 concluded Wage and Hour Division investigations in California, closed between Dec 6, 2017 and Jul 31, 2023. 2 of them found violations, 9 in all, and the employer agreed to pay $796 in back wages to 5 workers, with no civil money penalty assessed. Of the back wages, $599 was unpaid overtime and $198 unpaid minimum wage under the federal standard. The largest single case closed Dec 6, 2017 in Mountain View with $503 for 2 workers. That places the employer at #10,744 of 23,910 California employers in the database by back wages.
Industry as coded by the Division: Limited-Service Restaurants. Laws involved: FLSA.
Every case, newest first
| Case closed | Period investigated | City | Findings | Back wages | Workers paid | Penalties | Laws |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 2023 | Aug 2021 to Jul 2023 | Palo Alto | no violations found | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Dec 6, 2017 | May 2017 to Dec 2017 | Mountain View | 4 violations | $503 | 2 | 0 | FLSA |
| Dec 6, 2017 | Aug 2017 to Dec 2017 | Sunnyvale | 5 violations | $293 | 3 | 0 | FLSA |
Also filed as: Sweetgreen, Inc.; Sweetgreen, Inc; Sweetgreen INC.
Local pages: Sunnyvale employment lawyer.
How to read this record
Each row is one federal investigation. Period investigated is the span of payroll the Division reviewed, usually two years back from the complaint. Back wages is what the employer agreed to pay for that period at the federal rate; penalties went to the government, not to workers.
Back wages computed under the federal law are usually a fraction of the California number for the same hours: the state minimum is $16.90 in 2026, overtime starts after 8 hours in a day, and each missed meal or rest period adds an hour of pay. Workers paid in these cases may still be owed that difference, and the federal release form covers only the federal claim.
Full explainer: what a Labor Department case is, and what it is not.
If you work, or worked, at Sweetgreen
Pull together your pay stubs and your own record of hours for the last three years, request your pay records in writing (the employer has 21 days under Labor Code 226), and keep any WH-58 receipt from a Labor Department payment. A free review tells you in one call whether the California numbers exceed what was paid, whether break premiums and waiting time penalties apply, and whether anything that happened after you complained counts as retaliation. Call (800) 371-3088 or send your stubs.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division enforcement database, California cases. Record last checked Oct 30, 2026. Back to the wage theft tracker.
About this data: Cases come from the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division enforcement database (WHD compliance actions concluded since fiscal year 2005, California employers only), published by the Department of Labor and reloaded here every month. "Back wages" are amounts the employer agreed to pay at the close of the investigation; "penalties" are civil money penalties assessed. An investigation that found no violation is listed as such. The database does not include California Labor Commissioner cases or private lawsuits. This page is general information, not legal advice about your situation.