Shop Owner Who Paid Ex-Worker in Pennies Is Ordered to Pay More

A court in Georgia has ordered the owner of an auto-repair shop who disbursed a former employee’s wages with about 91,500 greasy pennies left in his driveway to pay nearly $40,000 in back pay and damages. The judgment said that the shop owner retaliated against the worker, who had asked for his final paycheck, and that he failed to pay overtime to the man and eight other employees.

Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr., of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, issued the order in a lawsuit brought by the federal Department of Labor in 2021 against Miles Walker, the owner of A OK Walker Luxury Autoworks in Peachtree City, Ga. The claim alleged that Mr. Walker retaliated against Andreas Flaten, an employee, after Mr. Flaten reported that he had not been paid final wages of $915 after he resigned, a statement from the Labor Department said.

“Investigators learned that Walker later paid the former employee’s final wages of $915 by delivering about 91,500 oil-covered pennies and a pay stub marked with an expletive to the worker’s home,” the Labor Department said. He also published “defamatory statements” about the former employee on the company’s website.

The consent judgment, which is based on an agreement between the parties, required Mr. Walker to refrain from intimidating and retaliating against former or current employees. It ordered Mr. Walker to remove photographs of Mr. Flaten and references to him from the company’s website and social media, and to post a copy of the consent judgment and federal rules against workplace retaliation in his facility.

The judgment also said that Mr. Walker violated federal overtime provisions by paying employees normal pay rates when overtime was legally required. It requires him to pay back wages and damages for a total of $39,934.18 to the nine employees.

The Department of Labor’s regional solicitor, Tremelle Howard, said the order sent a “clear message” to employers about unfair wage practices, intimidation and retaliation.

“By law, worker engagement with the U.S. Department of Labor is a protected activity,” she said in the statement. “Workers should not fear harassment or intimidation in the workplace.”

Cade Parian and Ryan Farmer of Parian Lawyers, who represented Mr. Walker, said in a statement on Tuesday that Mr. Walker wanted to stay focused on running his small business.

“This behavior is not indicative of Miles Walker’s true character as a businessman and he looks forward to putting this issue behind him and getting back to work,” the statement said.

The case attracted national attention in March 2021, when Mr. Flaten’s girlfriend posted a photograph on Instagram showing the mound of pennies that had been dumped at the end of his driveway.

On top of the mound was a pay stub and an envelope scrawled with an expletive.

In December 2021, the Department of Labor filed the lawsuit accusing Mr. Walker of violating federal labor law after Mr. Flaten reported to the department that he had not received his final paycheck for $915.

Mr. Walker said that his shop had issued the paycheck but that “it never made it to the mail,” the lawsuit said. He then told a Labor Department representative that he would not pay it, according to the lawsuit, but finally decided to do so in pennies.

“I’ve got plenty of pennies; I’ll use them,” Mr. Walker said then, according to the lawsuit.

“I’m happy that justice was served,” Mr. Flaten said in an interview with Atlanta News First on Monday. “I firmly believe in karma now.”