Georgia auto shop owner fined $39K for paying employee in oil-covered pennies.

A Georgia auto shop owner has been ordered by a court to pay $39,934 in back wages and damages to nine workers after violating the Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime provisions. The decision comes after the owner gave a former employee his final payment in the form of 91,500 oil-covered pennies and published a defamatory statement about him on the company's website. The court also permanently prohibits the owner from violating federal minimum wage and overtime provisions and requires him to remove all references to the former employee from the company website.