Grand Mere Restaurant Pizza Hut’s Delivery Driver Dispute

Case Details

Palomo v. GMRG ACQ1, LLC, like the many similar pizza delivery driver lawsuits around the country, alleges that the company and its owners under-pay their delivery drivers for the costs the drivers sustain when they use their cars for the company’s purposes, i.e., to make deliveries. Specifically, the drivers claim that the company reimburses a per-mile amount (ex., $0.30/mile) that is not enough to cover the drivers’ vehicle expenses. The plaintiff alleges that this under-reimbursement results in a minimum wage or other wage and hour violation.

 The Claims

 Under-reimbursement of Vehicle Expenses

First, the plaintiff alleges that the company does not properly reimburse for vehicle expenses.

The drivers’ position is that they must be reimbursed at the IRS standard business mileage rate (currently $.585 per mile) when the employer does not collect records of the drivers’ actual expenses and reimburse based on those records.

Even if the company is permitted to reimburse based on an “approximation,” as we expect the defendants will argue, the plaintiff alleges that the Grand Mere Restaurant Group Pizza Hut stores have failed to “reasonably approximate.”

Plaintiff alleges that this practice violates the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Nebraska Minimum Wage law, Neb. Rev. Stat. Sec. 48-1201 et seq. and Neb. Rev. Stat. Sec. 48-1228 et seq.

Unjust Enrichment

In addition, the plaintiff asserts a claim for unjust enrichment. She alleges that the Grand Mere Restaurant Group Pizza Hut stores unfairly benefit by requiring their minimum wage delivery drivers to cover one of their most costly business expenses without proper reimbursement. The drivers are conferring a benefit on the company, the company is aware of the benefit, and it would be unjust for the company to retain that benefit without commensurate compensation.