U.S. Sues Shop Owner Who Dumped 91,500 Pennies on Ex-Worker’s Driveway

“What started out as a gotcha to a subpar ex-employee, sure got a lot of press,” the message said, according to the lawsuit. “Let us just say that maybe he stole? Maybe he killed a dog? Maybe he killed a cat? Maybe he was lazy? Maybe he was a butcher?”

In a statement, the Labor Department called that message “defamatory” and said that Mr. Walker had retaliated against Mr. Flaten in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

“By law, worker engagement with the U.S. Department of Labor is protected activity,” Steven Salazar, district director of the department’s wage and hour division in Atlanta, said in a statement. “Workers are entitled to receive information about their rights in the workplace and obtain the wages they earned without fear of harassment or intimidation.”

The lawsuit, which also accuses Mr. Walker and his shop of failing to pay legally required overtime rates and failing to keep adequate and accurate records of employees’ pay rates and work hours, seeks $36,971 in back wages and damages for at least eight employees in addition to Mr. Flaten.

Mr. Walker did not immediately respond on Saturday to an email and a phone message left at the shop.

He told CBS46 in March that he could not remember if he had dropped the pennies on Mr. Flaten’s driveway. “It doesn’t matter — he got paid, that’s all that matters,” Mr. Walker said.

Mr. Flaten and his girlfriend, Olivia Oxley, said last year that they had spent hours hauling about 500 pounds of pennies in a wheelbarrow up the slope of his driveway into his garage, before the weight of the coins caused the wheelbarrow’s tires to collapse.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/09/us/georgia-auto-shop-pennies-lawsuit.html