Current Events > Boss sued after paying worker with 90,000 oil covered pennies over pay dispute.

(+) Yeah! (+)

A Georgia auto repair shop owner has been sued after he dumped more than 90,000 oil-covered pennies in a former employees driveway last year in a bitter pay dispute after the employee resigned

Andreas Flaten moved the more than 90,000 oil-covered pennies from his driveway to a wheelbarrow, causing its tires to deflate

The US Department of Labour has filed a federal complaint against the auto repair shop A OK Walker Autoworks and its owner, Miles Walker, for allegedly violating retaliation prohibition and overtime laws.

The department is seeking $36,971 (27,324) in back wages and other damages after investigators found that the owner retaliated against the employee after he resigned.

The complaint comes months after the employee Andreas Flaten, from Fayetteville, Georgia, went public with his allegations that Mr Walker dumped grease-covered pennies on his driveway as his last pay stub along with a note that read f*** you placed on top.

Mr Flaten resigned in November 2020 but did not receive his final pay cheque of $915 (676) until nearly four months later.

The heap of pennies blocked and stained Mr Flatens driveway and took him nearly seven hours to remove, the labour department noted in a press release.

The employee said he moved the pennies off his drive and into a wheelbarrow in his garage, but their weight caused the tyres to deflate.

If Ive done my math correctly, 91,515 pennies should come out to be about - at two and a half grams each - about 504lbs, Mr Flaten told Fox 5.

He described the form of payment as a childish thing to do and revealed that his new routine at night was to wash the substance off of the pennies.

The Department of Labours Wage and Hour Division determined that Mr Walker not only retaliated and published defamatory statements about the former employee on the companys website but also violated the Fair Labour Standards Act.

The employer violated the overtime provisions by failing to pay the legally required overtime rate when they worked more than 40 hours during a work week.
He also failed to keep adequate and accurate records of employees pay rates and work hours.

By law, worker engagement with the US Department of Labour is protected activity. Workers are entitled to receive information about their rights in the workplace and obtain the wages they earned without fear of harassment or intimidation, said Steven Salazar, a Wage and Hour Division district director.

The department said it seeks to prevent the company and its owner from future retaliation and violation of overtime and recordkeeping rules.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/8/5/AAZiH8AACyx9.jpg

https://youtu.be/T03vHSPH-HA

Was it because of the oil? Because that's a 100% legit payment, lol

Them pennies will never rust

What a jerk. Id hate having a boss like him.

Lol. Fuck that boss.

Good.

Shop is run by assholes.

Hell yeah. Get fucked bitchboss

Imagine being so fucking petty that you have a meltdown like this over having to pay your employee what you legally owe them. Especially after you fucked the dude over by not paying him overtime.

Where did he get all those pennies though?

Play stupid games, etc

Just to be clear, he had to pay a final ~$900 check, refused to do so, eventually relented and went through the trouble of covering $900 worth of pennies in oil and dumping them on the guy's driveway, and now could have to pay ~$37,000?

David1988 posted...

Where did he get all those pennies though?

Hed have to special order them from a bank. It looks like the cleaned pennies are new, so thats probably what he did.

He probably took so long to pay because thats how long it took to accumulate pennies ordering the max amount that a bank will let him get at a time. A bank isnt going to want to hold 90,000 pennies at once because your average local branch cant physically hold that many in their vault.

He's going to cover the next 3,700,000 pennies in Cheez Whiz.

I remember this. UR is such a great poster he knows to follow up on previous news.

Those pennies could be worth a bunch, I would be happy with them honestly.

This is why we had that coin shortage.

What a bitch-baby of a boss.

_MorningStar posted...

This is why we had that coin shortage.

The truth comes out.

White Eagle posted...

Hed have to special order them from a bank. It looks like the cleaned pennies are new, so thats probably what he did.

He probably took so long to pay because thats how long it took to accumulate pennies ordering the max amount that a bank will let him get at a time. A bank isnt going to want to hold 90,000 pennies at once because your average local branch cant physically hold that many in their vault.

The effort this guy put into being an asshat

I remember the owner cussing and chasing a reporter out of his shop over this saying the worker had it coming.

Read about this just now. Lol, jesus. Here's the vid:

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1481526712454336518?t=1B1JW5OZyqkQ2q1LydAtCg&s=19

A penny saved is a penny earned

The Treasury department could probably indict him for destroying currency.

Bad_Mojo posted...

Was it because of the oil? Because that's a 100% legit payment, lol

I feel like dumping the money on the driveway instead of mailing/presenting directly/paying via check or direct deposit and leaving an aggressive note also conribute a lot.

Convine that with hin clearly trying to inconvenience him and its blatant retaliation for quitting and standing up to his other illegal actions.