North Dakota Papa John’s Delivery Drivers Underpaid for Job-Related Expenses, Lawsuit Alleges

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The operator of some Papa John’s restaurants in North Dakota faces a proposed collective action that claims delivery drivers were not properly reimbursed for business expenses.

The 13-page lawsuit alleges defendant Queen City Pizza, LLC has failed to compensate drivers in an amount equal to a “reasonable approximation” of the expenses associated with using their own automobiles to deliver Papa John’s food and beverages to customers. Because Papa John’s delivery drivers are paid at or near the minimum wage, the defendant’s unreasonable reimbursement formula has caused them to incur amounts of unreimbursed expenses sufficient to trigger minimum wage violations, according to the suit.

“Regardless of the precise amount of the per-delivery reimbursement at any given point in time, Defendant’s reimbursement formula has resulted in an unreasonable underestimation of Delivery Drivers’ automobile expenses throughout the recovery period, causing systematic violations of the minimum wage laws,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit explains that because Papa John’s delivery drivers are required to use their own vehicles to deliver pizza and other items, they incur various job-related expenses, including the costs of gasoline, car maintenance and parts, insurance, financing, cell phone use, and automobile depreciation. Although the Internal Revenue Service has estimated that a reasonable approximation of the costs of operating a car between 2019 and 2022 ranged from $0.56 to $0.585 per mile, the defendant reimbursed delivery drivers at a rate of $0.22 per mile, the case alleges.

Per the suit, this rate is not a reasonable approximation of delivery drivers’ expenses, and caused drivers to incur unreimbursed costs that reduced their hourly rate with every mile driven.

“In 2020, for example, Defendant under-reimbursed Plaintiff and other Delivery Drivers at a rate of $0.355 per mile (IRS standard rate of $0.575 minus the actual reimbursement of $0.22),” the complaint relays. “Thus, in 2020, if Plaintiff completed 2 deliveries per hour and if each delivery was 10 miles roundtrip, Plaintiff would have consistently ‘kicked back’ to Defendant approximately $7.10 per hour ($0.355 per mile x 2 deliveries per hour x 10 miles per delivery).”

The case claims Queen City Pizza “knew or should have known” that it was not paying its delivery drivers sufficient wages yet “willfully” failed to do so.

The plaintiff, who worked as a Papa John’s delivery driver from February to December 2021, looks to represent anyone who worked for Queen City Pizza as a delivery driver within the past three years.

The lawsuit was filed on the heels of a similar case brought three days earlier against Third Worthington, Inc., who is alleged to have failed to properly reimburse delivery drivers at its Alabama Papa John’s restaurants.

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