An auto repair shop owner in Georgia is facing a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Labor after he allegedly paid an employee who quit their final wages in thousands of oil-covered pennies dumped on their driveway.
In a news release, the Department of Labor said on Wednesday that it had filed a complaint against the shop and its owner for US$36,971 in back wages and damages after investigators found alleged violations of the retaliation, overtime and recordkeeping prohibitions of the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act.
The owner, named as Miles Walker in the release, was found to have retaliated against one employee after they resigned and the employer failed to pay their final wages.
The Department of Labor’s complaint alleges that Walker paid the former employee’s wages of US$915 by delivering approximately 91,500 oil-covered pennies and a pay stub marked with an expletive to the workers home, “blocking and staining his driveway and requiring nearly seven hours for him to remove.”
The complaint also says Walker published defamatory statements about the former employee on the company website.
The investigation into Walker also found that he had violated overtime provisions for other employees, failed to pay legally required overtime rates when employees worked over 40 hours in a workweek and did not keep adequate or accurate records of employees pay rates and work hours, the department said.
