Chipotle rolls out new benefits, cash bonuses due to tax cut

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) became the latest company to enhance compensation after the tax cut enacted in December.

The company is rolling out benefits reaching all of its 71,000 employees, including special cash and stock bonuses and enhanced paid and parental leave.

Qualified hourly employees and salaried restaurant employees will receive a special one-time cash bonus of up to $1,000, and some staff employees will receive a one-time stock grant.

Other offerings will include accelerated training programs, and additional paid parental leave for everyone, from hourly managers to salaried employees.

The company also added life insurance and short-term disability insurance coverage for hourly restaurant managers.

According to the company, the tax cut and the jobs cut made the sweetened compensation and benefits possible. The company will invest more than one-third of its anticipated savings from tax law changes on behalf of its employees, and the remainder will be used to improve its restaurant facilities and operations.

The company said it has already started rolling out these new benefits.

Chipotle joins the likes of Anthem (NYSE:ANTM), AT&T (NYSE:T), Boeing (NYSE:BA), Home Depot (NYSE:HD) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) in offering bonuses to employees following the passage of the tax cut bill, which reduced the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%.