New Lawsuit filed by Delivery Drivers against Bajco Entities’ Papa John’s Stores

Case Details

This is the third lawsuit our firm has brought against these defendants for allegedly underpaying their delivery drivers. Like many other similar cases around the county, the lawsuit alleges that Bajco enacted and enforced reimbursement policies that resulted in their delivery drivers making less than minimum wage for the hours they work after accounting for expenses.

Federal law prohibits employers from paying employees less than minimum wage, either outright or by improperly shifting costs onto employees.

If you worked for Bajco and are interested in pursuing unreimbursed expenses them, contact us for a free consultation.

 CASE DETAILS

Bajco has made many of their delivery drivers sign arbitration agreements as a condition of employment.

Arbitration agreements are contracts to litigate legal disputes privately as opposed to in court. Employers often require their employees to sign arbitration agreements as a condition of employment. These agreements effectively waive an employee’s right to participate in a lawsuit in court or to proceed as part of a class action.

While arbitration agreements are often considered enforceable, they do not give an employer a free pass to behave as they please in the arbitration process. The employer must still abide by the terms of the agreement for it to remain enforceable against the employee.

In this case, we will argue that Bajco’s conduct throughout the arbitration process associated with the prior lawsuits amounted to a waiver of their right to arbitrate. Since the plaintiff alleges that the arbitration agreements have been waived by Bajco, the Plaintiff argues that he should be permitted to bring class and collective action claims in federal court on behalf of the Bajco delivery drivers who were under-reimbursed.

 The Claims

 Under-reimbursement of Vehicle Expenses

First, Plaintiff alleges Bajco does not properly reimburse for vehicle expenses.

The drivers’ position is that they must be reimbursed at the IRS standard business mileage rate (currently $.67 per mile) when the employer does not collect records of the drivers’ actual expenses and reimburse based on those records.

Plaintiff alleges that Bajco’s compensation and reimbursement policies and practice violate the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, and various state wage and hour laws.

 Violation of the Rules for Claiming a Tip Credit

Second, Plaintiff alleges Bajco failed to properly claim a “tip credit” against the minimum wage because they failed to actually pay the wage rate they promised to pay, after accounting for under-reimbursement expenses.

In addition to under-reimbursed expenses, the drivers claim they are entitled to the difference between full minimum wage and the “tipped wage rate” the employer claimed to pay, because the employer failed to meet the requirements for taking a tip credit. For example, if a driver was paid $5.00 per hour on the road in a state where minimum wage was $7.25, they would be entitled to $2.25 for each hour worked ($7.25-$5.00=$2.25) in the plaintiff prevails on this claim.

 Unjust Enrichment

In addition, the Plaintiff asserts claims for unjust enrichment. Plaintiff alleges that Bajco’s Papa John’s 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.