A Domino’s pizza shop in New York City has settled a lawsuit involving delivery workers getting their share of overtime. This lawsuit is one of many filed by the workers over alleged labor violations.
According to The New York Times, the settlement will cover claims by 61 workers who claimed managers at a Manhattan Domino’s told them they wouldn’t get paid for overtime hours, forcing them to rely entirely on tips. The law in the state of New York requires restaurant workers to be paid a minimum wage, even when they are also receiving tips.
The lawsuit also claimed that Domino’s pizza didn’t give them a legally required lunch break, not paying for uniforms, and paying sub-minimum tip wage even when the workers did untipped work, like cleaning ovens and floors or distributing Domino’s fliers.
One Domino’s worker started the legal action after complaining to his manager that he had been improperly underpaid, and because he complained he was fired on the spot. After the he alerted the Department of Labor and got no help after two years, the worker, joined by 61 others, were helped by the Legal Aid Society.
The owner of the Domino’s pizza shop in New York City, David Melton said, he had settled “to get the situation behind us and move forward with our business.” He also said “in any dispute people say things that may or may not be true, and that is the case here, we made some mistakes in our business.”
Midway through the lawsuit Domino’s Pizza of NYC filed for bankruptcy, saying it could not afford the potential liability. In a statement, Domino’s said it was ‘not contributing’ to the settlement in any way.” Domino’s also said, that Mr. Melton owed the company several hundred thousand dollars in back royalties. “We are holding off in collecting that money so that he can use it to pay off his other creditors, including the parties involved in the settlement agreement.”
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