EAST ST. LOUIS – A former Dominos Pizza deliver driver in Du Quoin, Ill., alleges the company pays employees less than minimum wages by using flawed reimbursement methods to compensate employees for the use of their vehicles.
Plaintiff Deborah Wakefield filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Southern Illinois Pizza, LLC and its registered agent Nicholas M. Burch, citing violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
According to the lawsuit, the defendants operate several Domino's Pizza franchises and hire delivery drivers that use their own vehicles to deliver food to customers. The suit states that the plaintiff was hired and worked for the defendant from March 2021 until July 2021 as a delivery driver.
Wakefield alleges the defendant requires delivery drivers to be responsible for the cost of gasoline, vehicle repair and maintenance, insurance and depreciation while employed by the company. The plaintiff claims the defendant pays such low reimbursement costs for the use of employees' vehicles added to their regular wages that the total amount of pay that drivers earn minus the costs of operating their vehicles cause their wages to fall below the federal minimum wage, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Additionally, Wakefield also alleges the defendants violate the Biometric Information Privacy Act by collecting employees' biometric data without informed written consent.
Wakefield is seeking compensatory and liquidated damages for herself and everyone in her class action lawsuit, plus court costs, attorney fees, interest and any other relief the court deems proper.
She is represented by attorney Katherine Serrano of Forester Haynie, PLLC in Dallas.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number CV-01262-GCS