dme court

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry filed suit against a former Mars delivery business for allegedly not paying 25 employees for their last week of employment in July.

The department’s bureau of labor law compliance filed the suit Thursday, Dec. 4, in Butler County Common Pleas Court against Last Mile Delivery Service, which had an office in Mars and operated out of a garage in Sewickley, and Christopher Novak, identified in the suit as an officer and agent, on behalf of 25 former employees, including two from Butler County.

The suit seeks $56,492 in wages, overtime wages, wages for agreed upon time off and penalties. The individual claims from the former employees range from about $85 to more than $5,000.

One of the former employees from the county, who did not wish to be identified, said Last Mile was one of several third-party delivery services for Amazon Prime that worked out of a facility in Sewickley. The Mars office was an administrative office, the employee said Tuesday.

The employee said they worked for Last Mile since it opened in September 2021 until Novak abruptly closed the business July 26. About 40 people worked there regularly, but the number increased to 70 around the holidays, the employee said.

In addition to unpaid wages, the suit seeks penalties of 25% of the unpaid wages in statutory liquidated damages or $500, whichever is greater, and 10% of the unpaid wages under the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law and the Minimum Wage Act of 1967.

Novak could not be reached for comment.