Pizza Hut Delivery Driver Files Suit Seeking Allegedly Unreimbursed Vehicle Expenses

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A proposed class and collective action claims the operators of Pizza Hut restaurants in three states have failed to properly reimburse delivery drivers for vehicle expenses or pay the workers the proper minimum wage for non-delivery tasks.

According to the case, Pizza Hut delivery drivers are required to drive their own vehicles for deliveries. Per the suit, the workers are also responsible for paying for vehicle-related expenses, such as gas, depreciation, maintenance and repairs, insurance, financing charges, licensing and registration costs, cell phone costs, GPS charges and the costs of any other equipment used in the performance of their delivery duties.

The lawsuit alleges that although Pizza Hut reimburses drivers on a “cents per mile driven” basis, the reimbursement payments “had no connection to the actual expenses incurred” by delivery drivers.

According to the case, the defendants, who operate 32 Pizza Hut stores across Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, have failed to calculate drivers’ actual expenses or reasonably approximate such based on the average round-trip delivery distance of three miles.

Moreover, the rates paid to drivers are substantially less than the IRS business mileage rate, which has ranged between 53.5 to 58 cents per mile over the past four years, the suit states. Pizza delivery drivers have incurred additional expenses on top of the costs accounted for in the IRS business mileage rate, the case adds, noting that drivers are required to pay for cell phone and data charges.

Per the complaint, Pizza Hut’s failure to properly reimburse delivery drivers has caused their wages to fall below the minimum rate in that the workers are already paid at or close to the minimum threshold before the unreimbursed expenses are taken into account. As the suit tells it, the unreimbursed expenses that go unpaid to drivers amount to a “kick back” the defendants keep for themselves.

“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 states.

When there are no deliveries, drivers are required to perform duties around the restaurant, such as stocking, doing dishes, and cleaning, the lawsuit goes on. Despite the fact that these tasks are unrelated to workers’ delivery jobs, they are wrongfully paid the minimum wage minus a tip credit, the case claims.

The plaintiff, who has worked at the defendants’ Harrison, Ohio store since 2016, says he has been reimbursed between $.25 and $.35 per mile throughout his employment. Taking into account his unreimbursed delivery expenses, the lawsuit estimates the man has earned approximately $1.24 per hour.

The case argues that the defendants have failed to take a proper tip credit from the plaintiff’s wages given they have withheld more of a tip credit than they informed the worker they would be taking.

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