Quitting a job isn’t always the easiest thing, and can be made even harder when your boss refuses to let you go easily. That’s what happened to Andreas Flaten, who was the victim of an act of petty revenge last March by his ex-boss, who delivered his final paycheck by dumping over 90,000 greasy pennies in Flaten’s driveway.
Well, since then, the US Department of Labor got involved, and now said ex-boss is facing a lawsuit.
In March of 2021, A OK Walker Autoworks In Peachtree City, Georgia, came under fire.
Specifically, the owner, Miles Walker, was being heavily criticized for how he handled an employee quitting.
That employee was Andreas Flaten, who wound up with over 500 pounds of greasy pennies dumped in his driveway by Walker after demanding his last $915 paycheck that Walker had promised him.
This came after Flaten contacted the Labor Department.
Flaten told them what he was owed, and they in turn contacted Walker, who initially said he wasn’t going to pay. Just hours later, the pennies were dumped.
Flaten’s girlfriend, Olivia Oxley, posted a video to her Instagram the night of the incident, showing both the sheer amount of pennies and how oily they were.
Now, Walker is being sued.
The US Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against A OK Walker Autoworks for violating federal labor laws.
The research done for this lawsuit has discovered many other vile things Walker said about Flaten’s choice to leave. For example, prior to dumping the pennies, the lawsuit claims he said, “How can you make [Flaten] realize what a disgusting example of a human being he is? I’ve got plenty of pennies; I’ll use them.”
And it only got worse from there.
In a post on the autoshop’s website, Walker allegedly wrote, “What started out as a gotcha to a subpar ex-employee, sure got a lot of press … 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?”
Walker, clearly, isn’t pleased.
He wasn’t pleased that Flaten ever contacted the Labor Department to begin with.
In an interview with CBS46 regarding the initial dumping of the pennies, Walker said, “It doesn’t matter, he got paid, that’s all that matters, he’s a [expletive] weenie for even bringing it up.”
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The lawsuit isn’t just being filed on Flaten’s behalf either.
But on the behalf of many other employees who felt wronged by Walker as an employer. An investigation into the shop revealed that Walker not only failed to keep accurate wage records but broke overtime laws by only paying his employees a flat weekly rate.
The lawsuit is seeking to get $36,971 in back wages and damages.
In a statement regarding the ordeal, Atlanta DoL Wage and Hour Division District Director Steven Salazar said, “By law, worker engagement with the US Department of Labor is protected activity. Workers are entitled to receive information about their rights in the workplace and obtain the wages they earned without fear of harassment or intimidation.”
h/t: CNN
