A Docket Full of Bad Pizza

Bad news for Lombardi's fans, because they're getting sued by former deliverymen. The lawsuit filed on April 5th accuses Lombardi's of skirting the minimum wage requirements and instead paid them by shift. The wages worked out to about $2.86 - $3.05 an hour. Pittance for the poor deliverymen! At that rate, they could only afford a pie at Lombardi's during their 100th anniversary special.

Lombardi's has the honor of laying claim to being America's first pizza store, but until taking a look at the lawsuit, we didn't know that it's actually "Pizza of 32 Spring Street, Inc" and only doing business as Lombardi's Pizza. Slice has got the full complaint on their site. The plaintiffs are asking for unpaid wages, interest, and liquidated damages in the amount of 25%. Worst case in our minds - the plaintiffs win the case, get the name Lombardi's and start opening up stores around the city, much like those "Patsy's" locations. But that's a little too Seinfeldian, no?

Email This Entry


Comments (9) [rss]

user-pic

While I knew that deliverymen don't get paid that much, I didn't realize it was so little! They probably get to keep their tips, but still, I don't know if tips would make up for being this much under minimum wage.

user-pic

i thought that when food service people make money off tips, they employer can pay less than minimum wage.

No wonder the Lombardi's delivery guy gave me such an attitude when I gave him a $2 tip on a $18 pizza.

I used to deliver pizzas myself and they always payed minimum wage. Just shows the arrogance of some employers - especially one like Lombardis that makes cash hand-over-fist.

I used to delivery pizzas as well. They place had it set up so each of the delivery guys was a sub-contractor and we'd each get paid $30 in cash at the start of each 10 hour shift. $3/hour sounds bad - but it worked out... Essentially, we would use the $30 to buy the pizza from the place at 10% off, sell it to the guy who orded the pie at full price, plus whatever tip. 2-3 runs an hour... It usually worked out to about $10-12 an hour.

Of course, the pizza place closed down eventually because 3 of the delivery guys and the head pizza maker were selling weed with the pie.

Ahhh, those were the days!

I'm definitely a fan of the Weed Lover's Pizza.

Not sure about delivery guys, but i know for sure that waiters get below minimum wage because tips are included in the package. If you suck as a waiter or a delievery guy you're not getting tipped well, thus taking home less.

Here's my question at the risk of sounding racist, hate crime-like, and just plain ignorant, but fuck it, i'll ask anyway.

What's the deal with Chinese food delivery guys and tips. Do numbers not translate universally the same? Is the United States #2 different than the Chinese #2? My question is, why do Chinese delivery men insist on playing dumb when it comes to making easy change. For example: I order the Shrimp Lo Mien and Won-ton soup... which on average comes to $8. I give the guy a $20 and he starts walking away like he's gonna get a $12 tip. He plays dumb like I was born yesterday, or the unlikely chance that I'm stupid with no sense of monetary value. So, when I ask for my change (with a decent tip of $2) of $10... he gets attitude as if 25% is not good enough... At this point I lose my ability to be nice and ask for $11, just to be a dick... and let him leave with a $1 tip, still a sizeable amount for an $8 food order and an elevator, not a walk-up building... he's also averaging $8-12 an hour, if he's not then I can assure you he's got another job.

De Livery,
That's actually a good question. I'm always wondering how much to tip my delivery guys. Sometimes I'll give a really good tip, and the reaction is as if I told the guy to beat it sans tip.

Delivery guys are also sometimes very difficult to read. I just wanna keep them happy (as I would with a waiter) since they handle my food. I always envision that delivery guys have this list of deadbeat, poor-tipping customers that they keep in the kitchen somewhere. Then, when that customer orders again, it's open season on the order!

for a while i was a manager at a pizza place and the delivery guys always knew who the bad customers/tippers were, best advice is to not mess with people who handle your food if you want it anytime soon.

Drunk@nyu: maybe in Kansas, but delivery guys here probably couldn't remember where they went 2 minutes ago. Ok, maybe a bad tipper they remember a week.

Post a comment (Comment Policy)

Tips

Get your daily dose of New York first thing in the morning from our weekday newsletter, now in beta.

About Gothamist

Gothamist is a website about New York. More

Editor: Jen Chung
Publisher: Jake Dobkin

Newsmap

newsmap.jpg

Contribute

Latest Tip:

Is Donald Trump broke? Sale of his VIP jet may indicate serious financial troubles for The Donald.
[more]

Latest Photo:

Subscribe

Use an RSS reader to stay up to date with the latest news and posts from Gothamist.

All Our RSS