(Bloomberg) -- Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. illegally shut down a Maine restaurant because workers there tried to unionize, according to US labor officials who are seeking to force the company to reopen the location and collectively bargain with the workers.

A complaint, filed Thursday by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of the agency’s general counsel, also seeks to make the company reinstate and compensate employees who lost their jobs when the store was shuttered, agency spokesperson Kayla Blado said in an email.

Chipotle shut down the site in July, a few weeks after workers had petitioned for a unionization election. The company said at the time the move was caused by staffing issues and was unrelated to labor organizing. In an emailed statement Thursday, Chipotle said it will “vigorously” defend its actions.

“Our operational management reviewed this situation as it would any other restaurant with these unique staffing challenges,” Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Laurie Schalow said in the email. “We respect our employees’ rights to organize under the National Labor Relations Act and are committed to ensuring a fair, just and humane work environment that provides opportunities to all.”

Complaints issued by labor board prosecutors are considered by administrative law judges, whose rulings can be appealed to NLRB members in Washington and from there to federal court. The agency can order companies to change policies that conflict with the law, but lacks the authority to issue punitive damages for violations.

Could Be Years

Even if the Maine union ultimately prevails in the legal case, “It could be a considerable number of months, more likely years” before that happens, Stanford law professor emeritus and former NLRB Chair William Gould said Thursday.

Chipotle worker Brandi McNease, a leader of the fledgling worker-led union at the Maine store, said she hoped the NLRB complaint would embolden more workers to organize and discourage other companies from retaliating.

“They gained absolutely nothing by trying to walk away,” she said. Workers at another Chipotle location, in Michigan, voted in August to unionize with the Teamsters, one in a series of recent landmark organizing wins at prominent US firms.

Thursday’s complaint follows one issued Tuesday against Starbucks Corp., similarly accusing the coffee chain of illegally shutting down a café because workers there had unionized. Starbucks has denied wrongdoing.

(Updates with comment from company, union starting in third paragraph.)

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