RTD Metro Business law columnist, Karen Michael.
TIMES DISPATCH/////////////////
By KAREN MICHAEL Special Correspondent
Employers must pay their workers final wages due following termination of employment, regardless of the reason for leaving.
Consider what happened to a Georgia man who finally got the $915 that his former employer owed him months after he was let go.
Auto repair shop A OK Walker Autoworks in Georgia is alleged to have paid the former worker his final wages of $915 by delivering the amount in about 91,500 oil-covered pennies to the former employee’s home. In doing so, the repair shop owner blocked and stained the former employee’s driveway, requiring nearly seven hours to remove the coins.
The employer allegedly left a pay stub marked with an expletive at the worker’s home and published defamatory statements about the former employee on the company’s website.
Earlier this month, the US Department of Labor filed a complaint against the owner of the auto repair shop in federal court in Georgia for retaliation, claiming the actions were motivated by a retaliatory motive after the former worker filed a complaint with the Labor Department’s wages and hour division following his resignation.
Upon further investigation, the Labor Department determined that the repair shop failed to pay overtime wages in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and now owes workers $36,971 in back wages.
