Boss Pays Worker with 91,500 Oily Pennies After He Complained About Not Being Paid: Feds
A boss has learned the hard way not to violate labor laws.
The United States is diligent regarding labor laws, created to protect employees from being taken advantage of by employers. Not only do they set a standard for fair wages and hiring and firing practices, but outline a number of other labor issues, such as workplace safety rules and regulations, workers' compensation, employee benefits, and so on. And, according to a new report, there are also rules about how you can pay employees. One employer learned the hard way after paying one of his employees in thousands of oily pennies.
A Georgia man, Andreas Flaten, complained that he had not received his final paycheck from his employer, Miles Walker, the owner of A OK Walker Autoworks in Peachtree City. However, instead of issuing him a check, his boss opted for a more creative method of payment.
According to the lawsuit filed in court, Flaten returned home one day to find 91,500 oil-coated pennies on top of a pay stub with a not-so-nice swear word written on top of it. Why was Walker so mad? Apparently, he had learned that his former employee had issued a complaint to the U.S. Department of Labor.
"How can you make this guy realize what a disgusting example of a human being he is …. [Y]ou know what? I've got plenty of pennies; I'll use them," Walker said per the report. After the lawsuit was filed, Walker claimed that he had prepared the paycheck but it "never made it to the mail."
During the investigation, it was discovered that Flaten wasn't the only employee being wronger by Walker. Walker and his company have been ordered to pay $39,934 in back wages and liquidated damages to nine employees, including Flaten, who is owed $8.690 in back wages.
"Workers are entitled to obtain the wages they earned without fear of harassment or intimidation," Wage and Hour Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta said in a statement.
After the pennies incident went viral, Walker started sharing about it on his body shop's website. However, he has been ordered to remove references about his former employee by the judge who issued the decision.
