Chuck E. Cheese lawsuits over the past three decades span sexual harassment claims by former employees, a landmark disability discrimination verdict, wage theft class actions, a Fair Credit Reporting Act settlement, product liability cases involving children injured on ticket machines and play structures, and shareholder challenges to the chain’s 2014 buyout. CEC Entertainment, LLC, which operates the brand out of Irving, Texas, runs more than 675 venues across 47 states and 17 countries and also owns Peter Piper Pizza. The list below covers the significant cases and how each was resolved.
West Virginia Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Cases
Five sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuits have been filed against CEC Entertainment in West Virginia courts as of mid-2026, all tied to a single Charleston location and brought by attorney Todd Bailess of the Bailess Law Firm. The cases accuse the company of tolerating a sexually hostile workplace run by general manager Ryan Slade.1PR Newswire. Bailess Law Firm Files Fifth Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Chuck E. Cheese in West Virginia
Three former employees allege that Slade engaged in grooming behavior, touched them without consent, and made lewd comments about their bodies. Two of those plaintiffs were minors at the time.2WV News. Chuck E. Cheese Facing Multiple Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Lawsuits in West Virginia A fourth plaintiff, former assistant manager Ian Cooper, says he was disciplined and then fired after reporting Slade’s conduct to a district manager.3PR Newswire. Four Lawsuits Allege Sexual Harassment by Chuck E. Cheese Upper Management
The most recent case, Zea J. Wilfong v. CEC Entertainment, LLC, and Ryan Slade (Civil Action No. CC-20-2025-C-1046), was filed in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County on September 10, 2025. Wilfong, a former assistant manager who worked at the location for six years, alleges her supervisor’s physical and verbal aggression escalated after learning she was pregnant, and that a separate assistant manager exposed himself to her in the manager’s office.4Denver Gazette. Bailess Law Firm Files Fifth Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Chuck E. Cheese in West Virginia
The plaintiffs’ lawyer says the misconduct spanned more than three years and that CEC Entertainment knew about complaints against Slade going back to at least 2021. The company has declined to comment publicly.5HR Dive. Chuck E. Cheese West Virginia Sexual Harassment Lawsuits All five cases remain active.
The EEOC Disability Discrimination Verdict
The company’s most prominent legal defeat came in a disability discrimination case the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought on behalf of Donald Perkl, a janitor at a Chuck E. Cheese in Madison, Wisconsin. Perkl, described in court records as mentally retarded, autistic, and nonverbal, was fired by a regional manager who allegedly said the company did not hire “those kind of people.”6HR Daily Advisor. Mentally Disabled Employee Wins Record ADA Verdict
On November 4, 1999, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin awarded Perkl $70,000 in compensatory damages and $13 million in punitive damages. Magistrate Judge Stephen L. Crocker upheld the verdict but reduced the total to $300,000, the statutory cap under the Americans with Disabilities Act, made up of the $70,000 compensatory award and $230,000 in reduced punitive damages.7EEOC. Chuck E. Cheese’s Must Pay Maximum Damages Under ADA The court also ordered the company to reinstate Perkl and to provide ADA training to its managers, and awarded the EEOC $7,615.84 in costs.8U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. EEOC v. CEC Entertainment, Inc., Case No. 98-C-698-X
Wage and Hour Class Actions
A California class action settled in November 2016 for $2.5 million, covering more than 10,000 current and former employees who worked at Chuck E. Cheese locations in the state between January 2010 and March 2016. The plaintiffs said the company failed to pay proper overtime, forced staff to work through meal and rest breaks without premium pay, and required off-the-clock work before and after shifts for tasks like calculating receipts. Class members received between $150 and $750.9Law360. Chuck E. Cheese’s to Fork Over $2.5M to Settle Wage Suit
A separate federal case, Kevin French v. CEC Entertainment Inc. (Case No. 3:17-cv-00479), was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 2017. The suit alleged the company shortchanged overtime for technical managers by excluding mandatory annual bonuses from the regular rate used to calculate time-and-a-half, and failed to reimburse workers who used personal vehicles and cell phones for job tasks such as traveling to meetings, researching parts, and photographing equipment.10Top Class Actions. Unpaid Overtime Wages Resulted From Miscalculation, Plaintiff Says
Background Check Class Action
In 2015, CEC Entertainment paid $1.75 million to settle a class action brought by job applicants Franchesca Ford and Isabel Rodriguez. They alleged the company violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act and two California consumer reporting statutes by failing to provide standalone authorization forms for background checks and by not including a checkbox that would let applicants request copies of their reports. About 28,500 applicants were covered, each receiving roughly $38, with attorneys’ fees of $577,000.11Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP. That’s a Lotta Cheddar: Pizza Chain Pays Big to End Background Check Case
Children Injured on Equipment
Several lawsuits have targeted Chuck E. Cheese and Deltronic Labs, maker of the chain’s “Mr. Munch” ticket redemption machines, after children’s hair was pulled into the devices. A suit filed in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in December 2022 described an October 2019 incident at a Wilkes-Barre location in which a girl’s hair was drawn into the machine’s moving parts. Her head struck the machine repeatedly before bystanders freed her by tilting the device and cutting her hair. She suffered a concussion, neck and back pain, muscle spasms, and difficulty concentrating in school.12PhillyVoice. Chuck E. Cheese Lawsuit: Girl’s Hair Caught in Ticket Machine
The complaint alleged Deltronic Labs designed the machine without an emergency shut-off or any system to detect foreign objects like hair. A 2017 case involved a three-year-old girl left with two permanent bald spots after her hair was caught in the same type of machine. Plaintiffs have argued both the manufacturer and the chain knew about the recurring hazard and did not add warnings or safety features. No final outcome in the Wilkes-Barre case has been publicly reported.
Premises liability claims have reached other attractions too. In one case involving the “Sky Tube” play structure, a jury found the company liable after a six-year-old child was injured, ruling that the restaurant had not conducted regular safety inspections to identify dangerous conditions.
Shareholder Suits Over the 2014 Apollo Acquisition
When Apollo Global Management acquired CEC Entertainment in 2014 for $1.3 billion at $54 per share, four lawsuits were filed in Shawnee County, Kansas, seeking to block the deal. The plaintiffs, including the Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System pension fund, alleged the board breached its fiduciary duty and questioned the adequacy of disclosures about Goldman Sachs’s role as financial advisor.13FindLaw. In Re CEC Entertainment, No. 120,234
The four cases were consolidated and the injunction requests eventually abandoned. In July 2015, Twin City Pipe Trades Pension Trust filed a class action petition naming The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. for allegedly aiding and abetting the board’s breach. That claim collapsed on a procedural problem: the plaintiff sued Goldman Sachs’s parent corporation rather than Goldman, Sachs & Co., the actual subsidiary that served as advisor. The district court dismissed the case, and the Kansas Court of Appeals affirmed in September 2019, ruling the statute of limitations had expired and that naming the wrong entity was a strategic choice, not a genuine mistake of identity. A court-appointed Special Master had already concluded the board did not breach its fiduciary duties and that shareholders were adequately informed.13FindLaw. In Re CEC Entertainment, No. 120,234
Federal Safety and Child Labor Citations
Federal agencies have cited individual Chuck E. Cheese locations for workplace violations. OSHA investigated a Redwood City, California, restaurant in 2010 after a supervisor fell from a portable step-stool while reconnecting a power cord, struck their head on a tile floor, and was hospitalized for six days. The inspection produced four violations, one classified as serious, and $4,950 in penalties.14OSHA. Inspection Detail: CEC Entertainment, Inc. dba Chuck E. Cheese
In December 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced that a Chuck E. Cheese in the Bronx, New York, had allowed a 17-year-old to operate a power-driven dough mixer, equipment federal law bars workers under 18 from using. CEC Entertainment paid $2,285 in civil penalties.15U.S. Department of Labor. Chuck E. Cheese Child Labor Violation
The 2020 Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
CEC Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in June 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The filing covered 17 debtor entities; franchised locations were excluded.16Concord Monitor. Chuck E. Cheese Parent Files for Bankruptcy, Hit by Pandemic The company secured $200 million in debtor-in-possession financing, closed 45 locations across 24 states, and emerged from bankruptcy on December 30, 2020, having eliminated roughly $705 million in debt.17PR Newswire. CEC Entertainment Successfully Completes Financial Restructuring The restructuring provides useful context for anyone tracking claims against the company across that period, though the recent West Virginia harassment suits, filed years after emergence, are separate from the bankruptcy estate.