Workers at the Jack in the Box at 1257 Park St. in Alameda went on strike Friday, saying they had been paid with checks that bounced, according to ABC7 News and the nonprofit Legal Aid at Work.

Legal Aid at Work, which represents the workers, says a lawsuit has been filed against Jack in the Box and the franchise operator, Gul Food Management. The workers say paychecks were drawn on accounts without enough money and that they faced retaliation after speaking up. They had also walked out earlier this year.

"We've had clients borrowing money," Samuel Aber of Legal Aid at Work told ABC7.

The bigger picture

  • California's fast-food minimum wage is $20 an hour, ABC7 noted.
  • The lawsuit argues that when franchise money runs short, "it is minimum-wage workers…who are left holding the bag," according to Legal Aid at Work.
  • The group says the state Fast Food Council, which oversees about 630,000 workers at roughly 49,000 locations, has no chair and has not met since 2025.

The strike came the same week Oakland moved ahead with a push for a $30 minimum wage.