Papa John's Franchisee to Pay Employees $460,000 for Wage Theft
It's time for this Papa John's franchisee to pay up.
Abdul Jamil Khokhar, the franchise owner of nine Papa John's locations in the Bronx, N.Y., pleaded guilty on Wednesday on charges of wage theft, reports the Associated Press. His offenses include failure to pay about 300 current and former employees' minimum wage and overtime, as well as falsifying business records to avoid paying employees extra for overtime work.
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Officials say that Khokhar will pay employees $460,000 in back pay and damages, plus $50,000 in penalties. He is scheduled to be sentenced to 60 days in jail on Sept. 21.
This is not the first time different, independent New York City pizza franchisees have come under fire for wage theft, which seems to have become somewhat of a pet cause of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The attorney general has already received judgments of close to $3 million against two other Papa John's franchisees this year. Schneiderman previously reached settlements with 12 separate Domino's Pizza franchises, totaling almost $1.5 million.
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