Six Domino’s pizza franchisees will pay $448,000 to settle charges they cheated workers out of lots of dough.
The cheesy business owners, who operate 23 restaurants in the state — including three in New York City — paid workers less than the $5.65 per hour tipped minimum wage plus didn’t fork over adequate overtime pay, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who announced the settlement on Thursday.
“Some franchisees paid delivery workers as little as $5 per hour, which is below the $5.65 tipped minimum wage that has applied to delivery workers since 2011 under New York law.”
Workers who used their cars to deliver the pizzas were not reimbursed for their slice of expenses, it was alleged.
The Big Apple locations owned by the crusty franchisees involved in the settlement are at 148 W. 72nd, 1993 Third Ave. and 153 E. 116th.
The settlement money will be distributed among roughly 750 minimum-wage employees, Schneiderman said in a statement.
“As I understand it, one of the wrongdoing elements in the actions was that employees at multi-unit franchisees were “shifted” from their home store to another store just before they hit 40 hours, and that either a manual override or a system flaw in the timekeeping system prevented the overtime premium from being calculated properly,” restaurant consultant John Gordon told The Post.
Schneiderman in May announced a probe of fast-food chains. He has previously reached a settlement with a McDonald’s franchisee and Domino’s franchisees.
Several Papa John’s franchisees received subpoenas as part of that probe, The Post has reported.
The AG is still investigating Papa John’s, sources confirmed Thursday.