Oklahoma, Texas Domino’s Operators Failed to Properly Reimburse Delivery Drivers, Lawsuit Claims

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A proposed class and collective action claims the operators of Domino’s restaurants in Oklahoma and Texas have underpaid delivery drivers by failing to properly reimburse the workers for business expenses.

According to the 34-page lawsuit, delivery drivers were required to provide their own vehicles to deliver pizza and other food and beverage items yet were not fully reimbursed for the myriad expenses associated with the job.

In particular, the defendants have failed to compensate drivers for their actual expenses or a reasonable approximation of such, and instead allowed the costs of automobile depreciation, gasoline, maintenance, vehicle parts, insurance, financing charges, licensing and registration, cell phone use, and GPS charges to come out of delivery workers’ wages, the suit alleges. Per the case, the unreimbursed expenses were enough to trigger minimum wage violations.

“Because Defendants paid their drivers a gross hourly wage at precisely, or at least very close to, the applicable minimum wage, and because the delivery drivers incurred unreimbursed automobile expenses, the delivery drivers ‘kicked back’ to Defendants an amount sufficient to cause minimum wage violations,” the complaint alleges.

The Domino’s stores controlled by the defendants have made no attempt to record drivers’ actual expenses by collecting receipts, the suit argues. Moreover, drivers were paid less than a reasonable approximation of their expenses, the case says, as represented by the IRS standard business mileage rates in effect at various times:

• 2015: 57.5 cents/mile
• 2016: 54 cents/mile
• 2017: 53.5 cents/mile
• 2018: 54.5 cents/mile
• 2019: 58 cents/mile
• 2020: 57.5 cents/mile

The plaintiff, who worked at the defendants’ Domino’s locations in Ardmore, Ada, Durant and McAllister, Oklahoma between November 2019 and May 2020, says he was reimbursed at a flat rate of $0.90 when making one delivery in one trip and $0.50 per delivery when he delivered multiple orders in one trip.

Taking into account the plaintiff’s average delivery distance of 8.5 miles, the lawsuit estimates the man was reimbursed approximately $0.105 per mile, far below the IRS business mileage rate at the time. According to the suit, the plaintiff’s unreimbursed expenses caused him to be paid less than the state and federal minimum wage.

The lawsuit echoes claims in similar suits filed recently against the operators of Pizza Hut, Marco’s, Papa John’s, and New York Domino’s restaurants over their apparent failure to properly reimburse delivery drivers.

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