The United States Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against an auto repair company that made news last year after handing a former employee his final payment in pennies.
The lawsuit, filed Dec. 30 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, claims that A OK Walker Autoworks and its owner Miles Walker discriminated against Andreas Flaten after he reported not receiving his final salary to the Department of Labor.
The action claims that defendants decided to pay Mr. Flaten in pennies within hours of discovering that he had filed a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division about not getting his last salary.
According to the lawsuit, Flaten discovered 91,500 pennies on his driveway in March of last year. Defendants left a copy of Mr. Flaten’s paycheck on the counter with an expletive scribbled on it.
A OK Walker Autoworks in Peachtree City was also found to have neglected to pay employees for overtime labor since at least April of this year, according to the Department of Labor.
The action also claimed that A OK Walker Autoworks failed to retain and maintain appropriate and correct records of the people employed, as well as the pay, hours, and other working conditions and practices, as required by the Department of Labor.
On Friday, a request for comment from OK Walker Autoworks was not immediately returned.
After garnering national attention for the penny scam last year, OK Walker Autoworks created a page named “Pennies” on their website.
