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Domino's Pizza Settles Wage Theft Lawsuits in NY

By Christopher Coble, Esq. on March 13, 2017 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Domino's has decent enough pizza, if you're in a pinch. What it doesn't have is an accurate payroll system. And that's a big problem when you need to adhere to state minimum wage and overtime laws. A New York Attorney General's Office investigation into Domino's computer payment system discovered that "over a two-year period, 78% of New York franchisees listed rates for at least some employees below the required minimum wage, and 86% listed rates below the required overtime rate."

NY AG Eric Schneiderman has filed numerous lawsuits against the pizza chain, and today announced a $480,000 settlement with three franchisees. Here's a look.

No PULSE

Shueb Ahmed, Anthony Maestri, and Matthew Denman own and operate 11 Domino's franchises throughout New York State, and were accused of withholding over half a million dollars in wages over a four-year span. The problem appears to have been the pizza chain's payroll system -- PULSE -- which systematically under-calculated workers' wages. According to Schneiderman's office, Domino's knew about the glitch years ago, and not only didn't take any action to correct it, but insisted franchises keep using the buggy system. (Perhaps they could just blame it on the Noid?)

The settlement with Domino's and Ahmed, Maestri, and Denman (for $150,000, $240,000, and $90,000, respectively) means the case won't go to trial. But that hardly alleviates Domino's larger wage theft issues.

Best Served Cold

It appears haranguing Domino's is somewhat of a pet project of Schneiderman. According to the AG's website:

The Attorney General has now settled investigations into labor law violations at 71 Domino's franchise locations in New York State, owned by fifteen individual franchisees. These locations comprise more than half of the franchise stores and over a third of the total number of Domino's stores in New York. The Attorney General's office has secured nearly $2 million in total restitution for Domino's workers statewide through these settlements.

Word to the wise Domino's franchisees in the Empire State: pay your workers their due wages and overtime, or suffer the Wrath of the AG.

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