Man who paid former employee in oily pennies ordered to pay nearly $40K

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. (WANF/Gray News) - A man who paid a former employee’s final paycheck in oily pennies has been ordered the pay the man and eight other former employees over $39,000. WANF reports.

A consent judgment against Miles Walker and A OK Luxury Autoworks ordered the company to pay former employee Andreas Flaten and several other employees $19,967.09 in back wages as well as the same amount in “liquidated damages.” The total sum is $39,934.18.

Walker paid Flaten’s final paycheck in nearly $1,000 in oily pennies in May 2021. In an interview with Atlanta News First at the time, Walker said “It doesn’t matter. He got paid, that’s all that matters.”

In addition to paying Flaten, A OK and Walker must remove “all photographs of and references to former employee Andreas Flaten, and is permanently enjoined from posting photographs of or references to Mr. Flaten on [their website] or any other website or social media site.”

Flaten is not the only employee who accused Walker of creating a toxic work environment. Another employee told Atlanta News First that Walker “[ripped] up people’s paychecks, their last checks, in front of their face.”

The consent judgment also accuses the company of employing workers for more than 40 hours per week without paying overtime and threatening employees who engage in “protected activity” such as filing labor complaints. They must also “not accept, request, or require that any employee return or decline payment of wages owed to them.”

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