Fast-Food Restaurants Serve Up Menu Of Labor Violations, ASJ Study Shows

June 28, 2009

The study surveyed 225 workers from Honduras’s largest restaurant chains: Church’s Chicken, Little Ceaser’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Pollo Campero, Popeye’s Chicken, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Wendy’s, and Applebee’s.

The findings show that among those surveyed:

80 percent of the women were required to take pregnancy tests;
24 percent did not receive severance benefits upon the termination of their contract;
11 percent were not paid for overtime hours worked, despite 15 percent reporting that they were required to work extra hours;
17 percent did not receive their educational bonus;
7 percent did not receive the extra month of pay required by law.

Hernandez said that one of the most troubling findings was the high percentage of women required to submit to pregnancy tests, a practice specifically outlawed by Honduran law. “This element should catch the attention of all organizations that work with women,” he said. “They should lend their support to this fight because having a child is a human right.”

Many employees surveyed, particularly employees of Wendy’s, also reported being forced to take lie-detector tests. The test results, often skewed due to nerves, would be used to “prove” that the employees were lying about aspects of their job performance, thereby allowing the company to avoid paying severance benefits. (For example, a manager might ask an employee “have you ever stolen food from the restaurant”; the employee may never have stolen anything, but still show physical signs of nervousness due to the uncomfortable situation that the polygraph would interpret as meaning the employee was lying.)

This study is part of ASJ’s ongoing effort to achieve labor rights for Honduras’s most vulnerable workers: private security officers, cleaning company personnel, and fast-food workers. Since 2004, ASJ has been one of the only organizations in Honduras fighting for the rights of workers in these sectors.

Hernandez said that one key to improving conditions for fast-food employees is to strengthen the punishments against companies who violate labor rights. Most fines for a violation fall between $250 and $1,000 – pennies compared to the money the companies save by violating laws in the first place. Hernandez is calling for the Honduran government to temporarily or permanently close restaurants that disrespect the laws.

ASJ is committed to following up on the study by filing formal complaints with the Labor Secretary, the Prosecutor of Crimes Against Women, the National Women’s Institute, and the Prosecutor of Human Rights Violations. ASJ will also continue monitoring the treatment of workers in the fast-food industry and educating workers on their legal rights.

“We have been working steadily to bring awareness to these problems, and the companies continue making a mockery of the people, making a mockery of the law, and making a mockery of the system,” Hernandez said. “We have to unite to fight these injustices.”

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ASJ-US and ASJ-Canada Joint Statement on Honduran Elections

December 2, 2025

ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US Congratulate the Honduran People, Call for Full and Transparent Results As sister organizations committed to justice, peace and hope in Honduras, ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US extend our deepest congratulations to the people of Honduras on the peaceful conduct of their national elections on November 30, 2025. With the initial tally showing an extraordinarily close vote, we call on election authorities to do what is necessary to ensure a transparent count of the remaining ballots in order to guarantee public trust in the final outcome. We commend the Honduran voters for their dedication to democratic participation and their commitment to shaping the future of their country through civic engagement. We also recognize the efforts of electoral authorities, civil society organizations, the international community and the thousands of volunteer observers who worked to ensure a transparent, orderly, and secure process. We are especially proud of our sister organization, ASJ-Honduras, for their unwavering commitment to democracy demonstrated through their electoral observation efforts, their analysis activities, and their consistent call for a fair and orderly process. Now that such a process has been achieved, the work turns to counting the votes with accuracy and transparency. The results remain close, increasing the possibility of a contested result. We support the work of the election officials at the National Electoral Council to give Hondurans confidence in the final results by conducting their count with rigor and transparency. We remain hopeful that the spirit of peaceful participation in the democratic process embraced by the electorate will carry forward into the post-election period to come. We look forward to continued collaboration with ASJ-Honduras as we all work together toward a just and hopeful future for all Hondurans. Matthew Van Geest President, Board of Directors ASJ-Canada Russ Jacobs President, Board of Directors ASJ-US

Artisans of Fraternity, Guardians of Hope

November 28, 2025

A call to action for Honduras

November 2025 ASJ-US Statement about Honduran Elections

By Elizabeth Hickel • November 25, 2025

The Association for a More Justice Society-US Supports the Network to Defend Democracy; Calls for Free and Fair Elections in Honduras November 25, 2025

Context Updates on the 2025 Elections in Honduras

November 13, 2025

Honduras’s Institutional Crisis Deepens Ahead of the 2025 Elections

HOPE

By Elizabeth Hickel • November 12, 2025

Dear friend, I couldn’t stop looking at the picture. Of course, there had been plenty of inspiring photos from this summer’s Prayer Walk for Peace and Democracy. The sea of blue and white rising and falling as hundreds of thousands walked the Honduran hills through Tegucigalpa, flowing like a never-ending stream. Catholic nuns praying their rosaries alongside Pentecostals dancing in the streets. But the picture that still knocks me flat is the closeup. The one of the two men standing side by side (picture enclosed). They are exhausted, and the shorter collapses into the taller. The tears mostly hold joy and relief, but they are mingled with something darker. After all, there had been threats—promises of harm done to themselves and their loved ones if they led their followers through the streets of Honduras in prayer. Despite the fear and intimidation, Pastor Gerardo Irías and Monsignor José Vicente Nácher forged ahead. They knew Honduras needed unity and, above all, prayer before the looming November 2025 presidential elections. As an ASJ supporter, you know that these kinds of threats aren’t out of the ordinary, and your support has helped slow and reverse violence in Honduras. Today, I am writing to share a way you can continue standing with brave Hondurans like Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José in hope. The Evangelical pastor and the Catholic archbishop put the word out as widely as they could to their churches, hoping to mobilize 20,000 to walk and pray. Instead, an estimated 230,000 walked in the capital of Tegucigalpa alone. It was a historic moment. And without your past support for ASJ, it may have never happened. After all, two years prior, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José didn’t even know each other’s names. They first met in 2023 at ASJ’s offices. They were two of many civil society leaders convened by ASJ to discuss safeguarding democracy– especially before the election in 2025. It was at that meeting that they shook each other’s hand and learned each other’s name. It was at that meeting–and many subsequent meetings–where old religious prejudices began to be replaced by trust and mutual affection. So, when the moment came this summer to act, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José knew what they had to do. And they knew that they had to do it together.