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Domino's Challenges Joint Employer Liability for Franchisors

By Richard Blum and Hollis Pfitsch
April 02, 2014

After more than three years of litigation, delivery workers for four Domino's pizza restaurants in Manhattan are receiving payments for unpaid wages. The payments of nearly $1.3 million began in January and are divided among approximately 60 delivery workers. The case involves a rare situation: While the original lawsuit was against a franchise and individual franchise owners and managers, Domino's Pizza Inc., the international corporation, was successfully added to the lawsuit in a motion to amend seeking liability of Domino's as a joint employer. While rare, the case applied well-settled principles of joint employment under wage and hour law to bring in the franchisor.

The Case Is Settled

Cano v. DPNY, Inc., No. 10-cv-07100-ALC-JCF (S.D.N.Y), alleged a range of labor law violations, including time-shaving and off-the-clock work, and was originally filed in the Southern District by The Legal Aid Society and Shearman & Sterling as pro bono counsel. (Note: The authors were members of the Legal Aid team.)

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