Domino’s Pizza Shares Slide following Lawsuit for Underpaying Staff

Domino’s Pizza: On Tuesday, the Australian Domino’s Pizza faced a class-action lawsuit over employees’ underpayment. Its shares fell more than 6% to a four-year low following the lawsuit.

The first-food chain plans to defend itself against the suit.

Phi Finney McDonald law firm filed the lawsuit in the Federal Court of Australia, alleges. It alleges that Domino’s misled franchisees by telling them not to pay delivery drivers and in-store workers’ wages as per industry standards.

According to the Australian Fair Work Commission, fast-food employees are entitled to a minimum weekly wage of A$813.60 ($565.86).

Phi Finney McDonald filed the Lawsuit on behalf of Domino’s delivery drivers or in-store workers who were employed between June 24, 2013, and Jan 24, 2018.

The claim alleges that Domino’s systematically avoided paying benefits mandated under the Fast Food Industry Award 2010. Benefits include casual loading, travel costs, penalty rates, minimum three-hour shifts and laundry allowances among others

“Domino’s workers should have been paid under the Award, but they were not. It is only fair that Domino’s pay employees what they’re owed,” Brett Spiegel, principal lawyer at Phi Finney McDonald, said.

The law firm said an investigation spearheaded by the Retail and Fast Food Workers’ Union (RAFFWU) revealed the misconduct.

“Some workers are owed tens of thousands of dollars. It’s nothing short of a disgrace,” said Josh Cullinan – Secretary of RAFFWU.

Domino’s spokesman did not promptly respond to a request for comment.

Domino’s reported a 9.2% drop in its first-half net profit in February. The company had expected its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the fiscal year 2019 to fall towards the lower end of its estimated range of A$227M to A$247M.

Domino’s Pizza partners Nuro for driverless pizza delivery

Domino’s Pizza announced that it’s starting driverless pizza delivery services in Houston, TX. Nuro is a company with self-driving (robots) vehicles for local goods deliveries.

The self-driving vehicles services are only available in Texas. The service has also been ongoing in the Houston area since March 2019. Plans to expand Nuro’s independent delivery operations are underway.

After a customer places the order, he can use the Domino’s app to track the vehicle.

According to Kevin Vasconi- Domino’s executive VP and CIO, they specifically designed Nuro vehicles to optimize food delivery experience- making Nuro a valuable partner in autonomous vehicle journey.

The partnership opportunity brings its customers the choice of unmanned delivery experience. It also brings an additional delivery solution during a busy store rush to their operators. The move is an integral part of their self-directed vehicle testing.

Likewise, in 2017, Domino’s and Ford Motor Co., researched on customers’ reactions to Pizza delivery using robots. Remarkably, digitization is facilitating Domino’s to expansion to both local and overseas market.

Domino’s has invested heavily in digital initiatives such as digital ordering to increase sales. In 2017, it launched the AnyWare suite platforms.

The platforms allowed customers to order from various ordering apps, which grew significantly. These apps include; Home, Google, Echo, Messenger, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Watch, Twitter, and Pizza emoji on the text.

Meanwhile, Piece of the Pie Rewards- Domino’s digital loyalty program continues to contribute significantly toward traffic growth.