A 500-lb pile of oil-covered pennies is how Andreas Flaten of Fayetville said he received his last paycheck from A OK Walker Motorworks, after contacting the Georgia Department of Labor for help in getting paid for a job he left in November 2020.
Flaten told a local TV station that he has been sitting nights cleaning the pennies with soap, vinegar, and water.
The US Treasury, however, says that there is “no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services.”
Others who have tried to settle debts with large numbers of pennies have been charged with disorderly conduct. A Utah man was fined $140 for paying a $25 bill with 14lbs of pennies in 2011.
By Milan Sime Martinic
He should get a good lawyer to go after his employer, it might be legal tender but when the money is altered it is un-spendable; he could get to keep the pennies, get a real pay check and also file for damages on unfair labor practices.