A lawsuit alleging pizza delivery drivers should be compensated for gas and other driving-related expenses was voluntarily dismissed.
District Judge Staci Yandle entered a judgment on June 15 stating the case was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice.
Plaintiff Jesse Tourville filed the complaint on April 11, 2017, against MBR Management Corporation. He argued that delivery drivers were not compensated for vehicular wear and tear, gas and other driving-related expenses.
Tourville worked at the Troy Domino’s Pizza and alleged he and others paid “out-of-pocket” expenses of $13.38 per hour to provide, operate and maintain their vehicles, losing approximately $1.43 each hour they worked on the road.
The plaintiff alleged MBR Management failed to compensate at least the tipped minimum wage rate for each hour worked on the road and failed to properly reimburse delivery drivers’ expenses including cost for gasoline, vehicle depreciation, insurance, maintenance and repairs.
Tourville argued that “by systematically under-reimbursing delivery drivers for the significant automotive expenses they incur while delivering pizzas, MBR pushes the drivers’ effective hourly wage well below the minimum required by the FLSA and state minimum wage laws.”
Tourville previously sought to certify the case as a class action, arguing that the evidence justifying conditional certification is compelling. He claims he and MBR delivery driver Alexander Smith, who has opted-in to the collective action, testify that they performed the same work and are paid and reimbursed the same way.
In a memorandum in support of Tourville’s motion to certify the class, he claimed delivery drivers are paid at or near the minimum wage and are reimbursed on a per-delivery basis “that is insufficient to cover their actual driving expenses, thereby forcing the drivers’ total compensation to fall below minimum wage.”
The plaintiff argued that delivery drivers incur per-mile expenses at a flat rate of $0.75 to $1.20 per delivery.
However, he alleged delivery drivers’ expenses are higher than other drivers “because they regularly drive in urban areas, in stop-and-go traffic, in inclement weather, making multiple stops, frequently turning their engines on and off and – as a result – experience lower gas mileage, more rapid vehicle depreciation, higher insurance rates, and greater vehicular expenses than the average business driver.”
“Because Defendant does not track delivery drivers’ actual expenses, it should provide a reimbursement at least equal to the IRS reimbursement rate,” the memorandum stated, which ranges between $0.535 per mile and $0.575 per mile.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:17-cv-373