GEORGIA — A suburban Atlanta auto repair shop owner who paid a former employee his final paycheck in more than $900 worth of pennies is being sued by the federal government.
The U.S. Labor Department filed a federal complaint against Miles Walker, the owner of A OK Walker Autoworks in Peachtree City claiming he violated the Fair Labor Standards Act for not paying his employees an hourly wage or overtime, according to court records.
Since at least April 2019, the Labor Department said Walker's company paid nine employees a flat weekly fee rather than an hourly rate, regardless of how long they worked. So when employees worked over 40 hours in a week, they weren't paid time-and-a-half, in violation of federal law.
The complaint also accuses Walker of "intentionally discriminating against their employees" for demanding to be paid fairly and for reporting him to the Labor Department.
Walker was not available for comment when Patch contacted his company Monday.
When former employee Andreas Flaten contacted Labor's Wage and Hour Division in January 2021 to report not receiving his last paycheck and Labor Department staff reached out to the auto repair business owner, Walker refused to pay, telling the agency that a paycheck had been prepared "but it never made it to the mail," according to federal documents.
Walker instead responded by...
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