- Aug 12, 2011
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Lawsuit Accuses Domino's Pizza of 'Rampant Wage Violations'
"We've uncovered rampant wage violations at Domino's franchise stores, and intensive involvement by Domino's headquarters that caused many of these violations," Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday. "At some point, a company has to take responsibility for its actions and for its workers' well-being."
Schneiderman said the company knew since at least 2007 that its PULSE system's payroll software undercalculated gross wages while still encouraging franchisees to use it.
The suit filed Monday night in state Supreme Court in Manhattan alleges the three franchises and the company, as joint employers, underpaid workers at least $565,000 at 10 New York stores. It also seeks to determine full restitution owed to workers, a court finding that Domino's defrauded its franchisees and violated state law, and a monitor to ensure future compliance.
The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company called Schneiderman's lawsuit disappointing, saying it "disregards the nature of franchising and demeans the role of small business owners." The company said it has worked with his office for three years trying to help franchises comply with New York's complex wage laws.
Domino's is the largest pizza delivery company in the U.S. and gets most of its sales and profits — $272.8 million in fiscal 2015 revenues — through its franchise stores, the lawsuit said. "Yet, while the employees who deliver pizza from Domino's franchise stores are the linchpin of Domino's business, Domino's and the franchisee respondents systematically failed to pay delivery workers all of their hard-earned and lawfully owed wages."
Violations included failure to pay delivery workers the legal minimum wage and overtime rates and adequately reimburse their expenses, the suit alleges. In a new twist in the attorney general's wage theft cases, which have returned $26 million to nearly 20,000 workers since 2011, it says the franchisor is liable as a joint employer "because it exercised a high level of control over employee conditions at its franchise stores and because of its role in causing the wage violations at issue."
Robert Cresanti, president of the International Franchise Association, called the attempt to assign joint responsibility a politically motivated attack on the franchising business model to pay back special interests that have spent millions of dollars trying to unionize workers.
The attorney general's office has settled cases with 12 other Domino's franchisees, who collectively own 61 stores and have agreed to pay about $1.5 million. The company has 136 franchisee-owned stores in New York, along with 54 owned by Domino's itself.
"The attorney general now wants the company to take steps that would not only deprive our independent business owners of the opportunity to make their own employment decisions, but could impact the viability of the franchise model, the many opportunities it offers to those looking to start their own businesses, and the millions of jobs those franchised businesses create," Domino's spokesman Tim McIntyre said.
In a March letter to Terri Gerstein, chief of the attorney general's Labor Bureau, a lawyer for the company wrote that its standard franchise agreement requires complying with all laws and regulations and that the company agreed that every employee not paid the legal wage "should be made whole." The company would be willing to fund the cost of a monitor and franchise management training on complying with New York's wage and hour laws, attorney Eric Corngold wrote.
And yet still some scum like the CEO of this company J. Patrick Doyle are........Scum!
Hey, J. Patrick Doyle, save some dough for the pizzas.
The Domino’s Pizza CEO’s lavish pay package — $43 million over the past three years — earned a sharp rebuke from the company’s shareholders on Tuesday.
Nearly a third of Domino’s investors voted against the re-election of director Andrew Balson, who chairs the board’s compensation committee, and nearly a quarter voted against the company’s executive pay plan.
Balson, a Bain Capital exec who also sits on the board of Outback Steakhouse owner Bloomin’ Brands, is “a serial overpayer,” according to Michael Pryce-Jones of Change to Win Investment Group, which advises trade-union pension funds.
“Unfortunately, he’s also got thick skin,” Pryce-Jones added, noting that Balson has riled shareholders at Bloomin’ as well as FleetCor Technologies, on whose board he also sits.
In a statement, Domino’s said it was “pleased” that a “substantial majority” of shareholders approved its pay policies and Balson’s reelection.
“We appreciate this vote of confidence in our board, our CEO, [and] our senior leadership team,” the company said.
Domino’s noted that its stock price has been on a tear in recent years under Doyle’s leadership. In 2013, Domino’s shares surged 63 percent — after growing 113, 28 and 90 percent in 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively.
As such, Domino’s has become “unique” in that the company performance hasn’t entirely shielded top brass from scrutiny over compensation, Pryce-Jones notes.
Disgruntled investors included the California Public Employees Retirement System, which called the plan “egregious.”
New York City Pension Funds, the Florida State Board of Administration and the Illinois State Board of Investment likewise voted against it.
- By michael virtanen, associated press
- 8 Shares
"We've uncovered rampant wage violations at Domino's franchise stores, and intensive involvement by Domino's headquarters that caused many of these violations," Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday. "At some point, a company has to take responsibility for its actions and for its workers' well-being."
Schneiderman said the company knew since at least 2007 that its PULSE system's payroll software undercalculated gross wages while still encouraging franchisees to use it.
The suit filed Monday night in state Supreme Court in Manhattan alleges the three franchises and the company, as joint employers, underpaid workers at least $565,000 at 10 New York stores. It also seeks to determine full restitution owed to workers, a court finding that Domino's defrauded its franchisees and violated state law, and a monitor to ensure future compliance.
The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company called Schneiderman's lawsuit disappointing, saying it "disregards the nature of franchising and demeans the role of small business owners." The company said it has worked with his office for three years trying to help franchises comply with New York's complex wage laws.
Domino's is the largest pizza delivery company in the U.S. and gets most of its sales and profits — $272.8 million in fiscal 2015 revenues — through its franchise stores, the lawsuit said. "Yet, while the employees who deliver pizza from Domino's franchise stores are the linchpin of Domino's business, Domino's and the franchisee respondents systematically failed to pay delivery workers all of their hard-earned and lawfully owed wages."
Violations included failure to pay delivery workers the legal minimum wage and overtime rates and adequately reimburse their expenses, the suit alleges. In a new twist in the attorney general's wage theft cases, which have returned $26 million to nearly 20,000 workers since 2011, it says the franchisor is liable as a joint employer "because it exercised a high level of control over employee conditions at its franchise stores and because of its role in causing the wage violations at issue."
Robert Cresanti, president of the International Franchise Association, called the attempt to assign joint responsibility a politically motivated attack on the franchising business model to pay back special interests that have spent millions of dollars trying to unionize workers.
The attorney general's office has settled cases with 12 other Domino's franchisees, who collectively own 61 stores and have agreed to pay about $1.5 million. The company has 136 franchisee-owned stores in New York, along with 54 owned by Domino's itself.
"The attorney general now wants the company to take steps that would not only deprive our independent business owners of the opportunity to make their own employment decisions, but could impact the viability of the franchise model, the many opportunities it offers to those looking to start their own businesses, and the millions of jobs those franchised businesses create," Domino's spokesman Tim McIntyre said.
In a March letter to Terri Gerstein, chief of the attorney general's Labor Bureau, a lawyer for the company wrote that its standard franchise agreement requires complying with all laws and regulations and that the company agreed that every employee not paid the legal wage "should be made whole." The company would be willing to fund the cost of a monitor and franchise management training on complying with New York's wage and hour laws, attorney Eric Corngold wrote.
And yet still some scum like the CEO of this company J. Patrick Doyle are........Scum!
Hey, J. Patrick Doyle, save some dough for the pizzas.
The Domino’s Pizza CEO’s lavish pay package — $43 million over the past three years — earned a sharp rebuke from the company’s shareholders on Tuesday.
Nearly a third of Domino’s investors voted against the re-election of director Andrew Balson, who chairs the board’s compensation committee, and nearly a quarter voted against the company’s executive pay plan.
Balson, a Bain Capital exec who also sits on the board of Outback Steakhouse owner Bloomin’ Brands, is “a serial overpayer,” according to Michael Pryce-Jones of Change to Win Investment Group, which advises trade-union pension funds.
“Unfortunately, he’s also got thick skin,” Pryce-Jones added, noting that Balson has riled shareholders at Bloomin’ as well as FleetCor Technologies, on whose board he also sits.
In a statement, Domino’s said it was “pleased” that a “substantial majority” of shareholders approved its pay policies and Balson’s reelection.
“We appreciate this vote of confidence in our board, our CEO, [and] our senior leadership team,” the company said.
Domino’s noted that its stock price has been on a tear in recent years under Doyle’s leadership. In 2013, Domino’s shares surged 63 percent — after growing 113, 28 and 90 percent in 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively.
As such, Domino’s has become “unique” in that the company performance hasn’t entirely shielded top brass from scrutiny over compensation, Pryce-Jones notes.
Disgruntled investors included the California Public Employees Retirement System, which called the plan “egregious.”
New York City Pension Funds, the Florida State Board of Administration and the Illinois State Board of Investment likewise voted against it.
