Auto shop owner ordered to pay $40K in damages for paying worker in oily pennies.

A Georgia auto repair shop owner who paid a former employee nearly $1,000 in "dirty, oily pennies" has been ordered to pay the man and his coworkers nearly $40,000 for back wages and liquidated damages. The U.S. Department of Labor found that Miles Walker retaliated against Andreas Flaten, who contacted the division after Walker failed to give him his final paycheck. The judge also determined that Walker violated Fair Labor Standards Act overtime provisions by paying Flaten and eight coworkers "straight-time rates for all hours worked."