Dive Brief:
- SQRL Fuel Stations is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, a spokesperson from the government organization confirmed.
- The spokesperson said they could not offer details into the case in order to “protect the integrity of the investigation.” However, the spokesperson noted that this is the third time in three years that the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division has investigated SQRL.
- This continues a series of payment-related issues parent company SQRL Holdings has faced in recent years, which have also included lawsuits and other problems with its vendors.
Dive Insight:
The DOL’s first two investigations into SQRL were launched in May 2021 in Converse, Texas, and in July 2022, in Lonsdale, Arkansas, according to the DOL’s database. Both cases closed last May, the database shows.
In both cases, the investigator “determined that there had been a missed payroll due to a clerical error,” the DOL’s spokesperson said.
The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division enforces federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act among other responsibilities, according to the DOL’s website. It also enforces various U.S. protection acts, as well as several employment standards and worker protections as provided in several immigration related statutes.
While the details of the DOL’s latest investigation into SQRL are unclear, the c-store retailer is accused of currently owing money to vendors.
A source who works for Freedom Fuels, a firm that partnered with SQRL last September to help the retailer staff its c-stores with military veterans, said SQRL still owes Freedom Fuels roughly $12,000.
As of March, SQRL was no longer answering Freedom Fuel’s messages, the source said.
“I’m not trying to bash them, but I also would like to know why we got ghosted,” the source said.
A spokesperson from SQRL declined to comment on the DOL’s investigation and on the allegation by Freedom Fuels.
SQRL has also faced several lawsuits over the past year, some of which have to do with the company’s lack of payment to vendors.
For example, Alliance Technical Group, an environmental testing firm, filed a claim last December against SQRL, noting that the c-store retailer owed it over $36,000 for unpaid site assessments done on its properties.
According to the Arkansas Business Journal, in 2023, SQRL also faced a $2.9 million lawsuit for unpaid real estate commissions and a $519,000 suit for unpaid fuel deliveries.
This all comes as SQRL continues to undergo internal changes as it pivots its operating model and attempts to reopen over 200 convenience stores it acquired in 2023. SQRL acquired the locations — which were formerly leased to bankrupt retailer Mountain Express Oil — from real estate investment trust Blue Owl Capital.
According to its website, Little Rock, Arkansas-based SQRL operates around 340 convenience stores across 20 U.S states.
