Four Domino’s franchisees and one former operator have agreed to pay $970,000 to settle wage and hour complaints lodged against the group’s 35 stores by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
In announcing the deal, Schneiderman called on Domino’s CEO Patrick Doyle to view his company as a joint employer of franchisees’ staffs and influence labor practices accordingly. “Franchisors like Domino’s need to step up to the plate and fix this problem,” he said in a statement.
Schneiderman noted that he’d settled similar wage and hour complaints last year against six franchisees who collectively operated 26 Domino’s units in the state. That group paid $448,000 in total to settle the allegations.
The franchisees involved in the settlement announced Tuesday all admitted that they had violated the laws as Schneiderman’s office had alleged. Among those infractions were:
- Failing to pay overtime to employees who worked more than 40 hours for a particular franchisee but at different restaurants owned by that company.
- Underpaying tipped delivery drivers.
- Failure to compensate delivery personnel for using their own cars or bicycles.
- Failure to abide by local requirements that employees be given at least three hours of work time when they show up for a longer shift that’s shortened because of business volume.
- Using a tipped credit without keeping the necessary records.
Schneiderman has brought similar actions against Papa John’s and McDonald’s franchisees in the state.
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